Paper I — 2024 December (Supplementary) (2019 Scheme) — Qxvii
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Paper I
2024 December (Supplementary) (2019 Scheme) · 100 marks · 180 min
Question
A: Tumor marker used for the diagnosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma in adult is alpha fetoprotein.
R: Alpha fetoprotein is a protein expressed on normal cells in fetal life but not in adult life normally;
exponentially high levels in tumor cells.
a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
c) A is true but R is false
b) Both A and R are true, and R is not the correct explanation of A
d) A is false but R is true
Qxvii1 marksMCQs
Answer
- [x] a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
Assertion is true: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is indeed the standard tumour marker used in the diagnosis and monitoring of hepatocellular carcinoma in adults (also elevated in some germ-cell tumours).
Reason is true and correctly explains the assertion: AFP is normally expressed by the fetal liver/yolk sac during fetal development but is essentially absent in normal adult serum after early infancy; its re-expression at markedly elevated levels in adult hepatocellular carcinoma cells (a form of oncofetal antigen re-expression) is precisely why AFP serves as a useful, relatively specific tumour marker for this cancer — directly explaining why AFP elevation is diagnostically meaningful in this context.
