Positive alpha-1-foetoprotein tests in pyridoxine deprived baboons: relevance to liver carcinoma in Africans
Foy, H.; Kondi, A.; Linsell, C.A.; Parker, A.M.; Sizaret, P.
Nature 225(5236): 952-953
1970
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-0836 PMID: 4313297 Document Number: 24428
Baboons were fed on balanced artificial diets lacking either riboflavin or pyridoxine. An immunological test with a rabbit antiserum showed that half the baboons deprived of pyridoxine gave positive reactions for alpha 1-foetoglobulin; one of the 5 reactors which had been deprived of pyridoxine for 3 years, with occasional treatment to keep it alive, died and was found to have several nodules in the liver. None of 5 baboons deprived of riboflavin for between 152 and 516 days had a positive foetoprotein reaction, nor had 8 healthy baboons on natural diet. The relation of a positive reaction to histological liver damage is to be studied further, in particular the possibility that the foetoprotein reaction is specific for hepatocellular carcinoma.