The safety of alpha fetoprotein in diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Aim: Diabetes mellitus is closely associated with many types of cancer including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Alpha feto proteinis still used as a biomarker for HCC worldwide but relation between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and AFP is unclear. We aimed toinvestigate relations between AFP, T2DM and metabolic markers in this study.Material and Methods: 208 HCC patients were enrolled to study. 50 patients had T2DM (T2DM+HCC) and 158 patients were nondiabetic (NDM+HCC). 50 healthy people enrolled to the study as control group. Serum AFP levels were compared between healthycontrol group, T2DM+HCC group and NDM+HCC group. Serum AFP levels were compared with age, BMI, HgbA1c, fasting plasmaglucose level (FPG), serum insulin level and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).Results: AFP levels were higher in T2DM + HCC group patients according to healthy control group (p