| Title |
α-Fetoprotein and β-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Drugs, October 2012
|
| DOI | 10.2165/00003495-199957040-00001 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
John J. Gregory, Jonathan L. Finlay |
| Abstract |
Tumour markers can aid in areas such as diagnosis, surveillance of recurrence, staging and prognosis. This article focuses on 2 tumour markers, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). These tumour markers have been examined for their utility as prognostic indicators in 2 different manners. First, the marker level at diagnosis has been studied to determine if it is prognostic of outcome presumably because of its relation to tumour bulk or to the biological nature of the tumour. A more recent trend has been to investigate tumour marker decline. The finding of a delayed rate of decline suggests a poorer response of the malignancy to chemotherapy. The major focus of the article will be on marker decline of AFP and HCG as prognostic tools in peripheral and central nervous system (CNS) germ cell tumours (GCTs) and hepatic tumours (hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma). The articles reviewed here suggest that HCG and AFP can correlate with survival if examined in specific ways, and could potentially be used to tailor treatment for individual patients. One group of authors presents data on patients with GCTs suggesting that satisfactory marker regression is an independent prognostic factor for survival. In a study of hepatoblastoma, data demonstrate that both the magnitude and rate of decline are associated with survival. Marker decline studies in hepatocellular carcinoma do not exist and marker levels at diagnosis do not appear to have a role in potential therapeutic changes. However, data on fucosylated subtype of AFP, Lens culinaris agglutinin A reactive AFP, has shown prognostic significance in hepatocellular carcinoma. The data for CNS GCTs are limited and studies examining serial cerebrospinal fluid HCG/AFP are ongoing. In some diseases, issues relating to timing of marker sampling when examining marker decline need to be studied in greater detail. Hopefully, marker decline studies can be duplicated in the other diseases, to document a potential role in determining outcome. Further studies are needed to test the ability to alter therapy in attempts to improve survival while decreasing toxicity to patients. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 36 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 36 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 5 | 14% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 5 | 14% |
| Student > Master | 4 | 11% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 8% |
| Other | 3 | 8% |
| Other | 7 | 19% |
| Unknown | 9 | 25% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 12 | 33% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 8% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 8% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 1 | 3% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 1 | 3% |
| Other | 5 | 14% |
| Unknown | 11 | 31% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 December 2023.
All research outputs
#5,446,629
of 25,373,627 outputs
Outputs from Drugs
#833
of 3,464 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#39,602
of 191,523 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Drugs
#308
of 1,674 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,373,627 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 75th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,464 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 191,523 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 1,674 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its contemporaries.