Human fetal and tumor alpha-fetoproteins differ in conformationally dependent epitope variants expression.

Expression of two conformationally dependent epitopes (cdes) designated as cdeD and cde106 of human alpha-fetoprotein (hAFP) was studied in hAFP of fetal and tumor origin. This was done by immunoaffinity electrochromatography on nitrocellulose membrane and by ELISA. Using anti-cdeD and anti-cde106 monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs), the relationship between the cde-positive and cde-negative hAFP fractions was evaluated in 75 samples with the above techniques.