Alpha Fetoprotein: An index of progression or regression of hepatoma, and a target for immunotherapy.

CLINICAL AND LABORATORY STUDIES OF AFP PRODUCING HEPATOMAS DEMONSTRATED THAT: 1) serum AFP levels correlated directly with tumor growth; 2) circulating AFP could be cleared by passive administration of an. excess of anti-AFP; and 3) highly specific anti-AFP functioned as a carrier to localize diagnostic and possibly therapeutic amounts of radioactivity in hepatoma tissue. These studies helped elucidate certain criteria which should be fulfilled before attempts to initiate passive humoral immunotherapy of cancer are undertaken.