An endogenous chromophore regularly associated with rat alpha 1 fetoprotein was detected by a systematic study of the fluorescence spectra of the protein purified by immunoabsorption. This fluorescent ligand, of low molecular weight, was dissociated from rat alpha 1 fetoprotein by exhaustive dialysis of the protein at low concentration. A phase partition method with aqueous preparations of rat ...

Background and Objectives: Nodular lesions of liver are usually neoplastic (primary or metastatic), although inflammatory lesions can occur. The objectives of this paper were to study the cytomorphological changes in various nodular lesions of liver and to correlate the cytomorphological findings with biochemical parameters especially serum alpha-fetoprotein. Materials & Methods:  A cross-sect...

Using a radioimmunoassay technique serum alpha-fetoprotein could be detected in healthy adults in concentrations of less than 20 ,ug/l. Of patients with acute, viral hepatitis 43 % exhibited a transient rise of serum alpha-fetoprotein, the peak occurring eight to nine days after the maximum recorded serum aspartate transaminase activity. Patients with hepatic damage due to paracetamol poisoning...

Using a radioimmunoassay technique serum alpha-fetoprotein could be detected in healthy adults in concentrations of less than 20 microgram/l. Of patients with acute, viral hepatitis 43% exhibited a transient rise of serum alpha-fetoprotein, the peak occurring eight to nine days after the maximum recorded serum aspartate transaminase activity. Patients with hepatic damage due to paracetamol pois...

Over a two-year period, 3479 pregnant women in the Kings' Lynn Health District were screened for neural tube defects by estimation of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein. Most pregnancies were scanned by sonar for fetal maturity. Eight women had fetuses with open neural tube defects; four with anencephaly were associated with very high alpha-fetoprotein values. Of the four with open neural tube de...

Two patients with primary gastric carcinoma and multiple liver secondaries who developed alpha fetoprotein in the serum are reported. Both had clinical features which were initially suggestive of primary liver cell carcinoma. Fetoprotein levels fell after ligation of the hepatic artery in one patient. Alpha fetoprotein may occur in the serum of adult patients with tumours of the foregut, other ...

The nucleotide sequence of the 3'-terminal untranslated region and a portion of the coding region of rat alpha-fetoprotein mRNA has been determined from a cloned double-stranded cDNA. the amino acid sequence of the COOH-terminal portion of alpha-fetoprotein was inferred from the nucleotide sequence and compared to the amino acid sequence of the corresponding portion of rat, bovine, and human al...

The usefulness of measuring both alpha-fetoprotein and hCG in following the progress of patients with testicular cancers and germ cell tumors is demonstrated. In almost half the cases of testicular cancers studied, only one tumor marker was elevated; in at least one instance, the source of alpha-fetoprotein was eliminated while the source of hCG persisted. A comparison of the hCG method in use ...