CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Genitourinary Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1581665
This article is part of the Research TopicUrothelial Neoplasms: An Integrated Approach to Prevention, Diagnostics, and Personalized TherapyView all 3 articles
Case report: Alpha-fetoprotein-producing urothelial carcinoma of the bladder
Provisionally accepted
Haibing Huang1
Youping Ding2
YuJu Fang1Kunlin Xie3Chengyong Zhong4Haiye Fan1Xiaofeng Zou3*
Tianpeng Xie3*- 1First Clinical Medical College, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
- 2Center of Medical Big Data and Bioinformatics Research, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
- 3Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
- 4Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The elevated serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) are commonly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or germ cell tumors. AFP-producing urothelial carcinoma of the bladder is very rare. We report a case of bladder urothelial carcinoma with significantly elevated AFP levels. A 60-year-old male was admitted for gross hematuria. Computed tomography urography (CTU) revealed multiple large tumors of the bladder. The serum level of AFP was up to 2329 ng/ml. No hepatic tumors or testicular tumors were detected. Although hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was positive, liver function test was normal. The patient underwent robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy with ileal conduit urinary diversion.Postoperative pathology revealed high-grade muscle invasive bladder urothelial carcinoma and immunohistochemical staining of the tumor cells showed strong AFP positivity. After surgery, the serum AFP levels dropped sharply and decreased to normal 4weeks after operation. In conclusion, AFP-producing bladder urothelial carcinoma is rare, and the mechanism and pathophysiology remains unclear and requires further investigation.
Keywords: Alpha-Fetoprotein, urothelial carcinoma, Bladder cancer, Radical cystectomy, case report
Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Ding, Fang, Xie, Zhong, Fan, Zou and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaofeng Zou, Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
Tianpeng Xie, Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.