Hepatitis b surface antigen and alphafetoprotein levels in the serum of healthy women.

Serum alphafetoprotein (AFP) levels were determined by radioimmunoassay in 24 prostitutes and 16 other women positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), but clinically normal. For every positive woman an effort was made to choose 3 HBsAg-negative comparison women, matched for profession (prostitutes or other), age (+/- 2 years), and social class; however, in 5 instances matched triplets (rather than quadruplets) were formed. Among the 40 HBsAg-positive women 9 were AFP positive (23%), whereas among the 115 HBsAg-negative women 13 were AFP positive (11%). A matched analysis indicates that the difference is marginally significant (one-tailed p = 0.03). This finding is compatible with the view that the induction of AFP synthesis in apparently healthy HBsAg-positive individuals may be related with the oncogenic potential of the hepatitis B virus.