Editing Germ Cell Tumours (section)

===== <span style="color:#0000ff">A</span><span style="color:#ff0000">FP</span> =====
* At diagnosis, elevated in 50-70% of low-stage (CS I, IIA, and IIB) NSGCT and 60-80% of advanced (CS IIC and III) NSGCT
* '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Produced by (3):</span>'''
*# '''<span style="color:#0000ff">Y</span><span style="color:#ff0000">olk sac</span>'''
*# '''<span style="color:#0000ff">E</span><span style="color:#ff0000">C</span>'''
*# '''<span style="color:#0000ff">T</span><span style="color:#ff0000">eratoma</span>'''
** '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Choriocarcinomas and seminomas do not produce AFP</span>'''
*** '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Clinical implication: pure seminoma in the primary tumor with an elevated serum AFP should be treated as NSGCT</span>'''
* '''Upper limit < 11 ng/mL'''
** Despite most laboratories considering AFP > 8ng/mL to be abnormally elevated, a proportion of the population may have levels up to 15-25 ng/mL in the absence of any pathology; '''treatment decisions based solely on “elevated” AFP levels that are stable and <25 ng/mL is discouraged'''
* '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Serum half-life: 5-7 days</span>'''
* '''Other causes of elevated AFP:'''
*# '''Non-malignant liver disease (infectious, drug-induced, alcohol-induced, autoimmune)'''
*# '''Hepatocellular carcinoma'''
*# Cancers of the stomach, pancreas, biliary tract, and lung
*# Ataxic telangiectasia
*# Hereditary tyrosinemia
*# Hereditary persistence of AFP (a congenital alteration in the hepatic nuclear factor binding site of the AFP gene)