Contribution of alpha-fetoprotein in liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Main studies suggesting a cut-off value for α-fetoprotein when selecting candidates for liver transplantation

Ref.	Year	No. of patients	Country	Study design	AFP cut-off value	Endpoint
Yamashiki et al[43]	2004	93	United States	Prospective	100 ng/mL	Drop-out from list
Shetty et al[42]	2004	109	United States	Retrospective	300 ng/mL	Recurrence, death
Todo et al[54]	2007	653	Japan	Retrospective	200 ng/mL	Recurrence
					1000 ng/mL
Parfitt et al[61]	2007	75	Canada	Retrospective	1000 ng/mL	Recurrence
Pérez-Saborido et al[44]	2007	95	Spain	Retrospective	200 ng/mL	Recurrence
Onaca et al[10]	2007	902	United States	Retrospective	200 ng/mL	Recurrence
Adler et al[86]	2008	226	Belgium	Retrospective	100 ng/mL	Recurrence
Zou et al[45]	2008	303	China	Retrospective	1000 ng/mL	Fatal recurrence
Ioannou et al[50]	2008	5028	United States	Retrospective	455 ng/mL	Death
Xu et al[46]	2009	97	China	Retrospective	400 ng/mL	Recurrence
Toso et al[49]	2009	6478	Canada	Retrospective	400 ng/mL	Death
Lao et al[55]	2009	124	United States	Prospective	1000 ng/mL	Recurrence
Xiao et al[87]	2009	224	China	Retrospective	800 ng/mL	Death
McHugh et al[47]	2010	101	United States	Retrospective	100 ng/mL	Recurrence, death
Levi et al[88]	2010	244	United States	Retrospective	100 ng/mL	Recurrence
Merani et al[66]	2011	6817	United States	Retrospective	400 ng/mL	Death
Lai et al[89]	2011	153	Italy	Retrospective	210 ng/mL	Recurrence
Mailey et al[48]	2011	2253	United States	Retrospective	400 ng/mL	Death
Muscari et al[28]	2012	122	France	Retrospective	500 ng/mL	Recurrence, death
Ciccarelli et al[65]	2012	137	Belgium	Retrospective	400 ng/mL	Recurrence
Wong et al[59]	2013	211	United States	Retrospective	400 ng/mL	Recurrence
Harimoto et al[90]	2013	167	Japan	Retrospective	300 ng/mL	Recurrence
Abdel-Wahab et al[68]	2013	170	Egypt	Retrospective	200 ng/mL	Recurrence, death
Grąt et al[67]	2014	121	Poland	Retrospective	100 ng/mL	Recurrence
Hameed et al[30]	2014	211	United States	Retrospective	1000 ng/mL	Microvascular invasion
Lee et al[91]	2014	69	South Korea	Retrospective	200 ng/mL	Recurrence
Grąt et al[92]	2016	146	Poland	Retrospective	100 ng/mL	Recurrence

AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.

Table 2 Studies focusing on dynamic values of α-fetoprotein before liver transplantation

Ref.	Year	No. of patients	AFP slope
Han et al[69]	2007	47	50 ng/mo
Vibert et al[70]	2010	153	15 ng/mo
Lai et al[52]	2013	422	15 ng/mo
Dumitra et al[71]	2013	92	0.1 ng/d

AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.

Table 3 Suggestions for new selection criteria for liver transplantation that integrate α-fetoprotein

Ref.	Year	No. of patients	Study design	Criteria	AFP cut-off values
Yang et al[56]	2007	63	Retrospective	AFP	20 ng/mL, 200 ng/mL, 1000 ng/mL
				Tumor size
				Number of tumors
Zheng et al[63]	2008	195	Retrospective	AFP	400 ng/mL
				Total tumor diameter
				Histopathologic grade
Lai et al[64]	2012	158	Retrospective	AFP	400 ng/mL
				Total tumor diameter
Duvoux et al[57]	2012	435	Prospective	AFP	100 ng/mL, 1000 ng/mL
				Tumor size
				Number of tumors
Kashkoush et al[76]	2014	115	Retrospective	AFP	400 ng/mL
				Actual tumor volume
Toso et al[75]	2015	233	Prospective	AFP	400 ng/mL
				Total tumor volume
Hong et al[77]	2015	123	Retrospective	AFP	200 ng/mL
				F-FDG PET positivity

AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; F-FDG PET: F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography.