Behaviour of serum α-fetoprotein in acute hepatitis

α-FP was determined by radioimmunoassay in the serum of 28 normal subjects aged between 21 and 40 and in the serum of 27 male subjects aged between 19 and 49 with acute hepatitis. The measurements made on the hepatitis cases were systematically repeated during the course of the disease from the 5th day after its clinical appearance to the 30th–45th day; at the same time the behaviour of GPT, alkaline phosphatase and bilirubinemia was also studied. In normal adult subjects, α-FP was constantly present with a mean value of 1.37±0.67 in males and 1.10±0.63 in females; no statistically significant difference was found between the two sexes. In the hepatitis cases α-FP was found in significantly higher quantities than the normal mean values; it increased progressively to reach amaximum on about the 15th–20th day from the clinical onset, and then decreased quite rapidly remaining, however, at a level higher than normal for the whole observation period. The findings confirm the persistence of the α-FP synthesis in the normal adult subject and reveal an increase in this synthesis in the course of acute hepatitis, possibly linked to the process of hepatic regeneration, but without this synthesis being correlated with the behaviour of the other serum parameters (GPT, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin).