Immunohistochemical detection of alpha-fetoprotein, carcinoembryonic antigen, and ferritin in formalin-paraffin sections from hepatocellular carcinoma.

Paraffin sections of livers from 20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were examined by a method using peroxidase antiperoxidase for the detection of alpha-fetoprotein, carcinoembryonic antigen, and ferritin. Ferritin was detected in 70% of the cases, alpha-fetoprotein was in 50% and carcinoembryonic antigen in 30%. The incidence of the detection of these antigens was in accordance with the incidence of these antigens in the sera of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, these antigens were mainly expressed in the well differentiated type of hepatocellular carcinoma by the Edmondson's criteria. Our results also revealed that different antigens were usually present in different tumor cells, although some cells displayed two or more antigens simultaneously. These findings suggest that hepatocellular carcinoma cells are functionally heterogeneous, even if they appear histologically monomorphic.