Alpha-fetoprotein in malignant pediatric tumors

This concise chapter summarizes the role of serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) as a useful biomarker in malignant pediatric tumors. The fetal yolk sac and liver generate high levels of AFP during gestation, decline over the next 12 months of infancy, and only trace amounts are detected in childhood. As a result, persistent elevation of AFP correlates with a number of select pediatric malignant conditions. Serum AFP is over expressed in a considerable fraction of germ cell tumors (GCTs), hepatoblastoma (HB) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We provide the reader with a review of AFP as a useful specific marker for the diagnosis, management and follow-up in pediatric cancers.