{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T19:15:11Z","timestamp":1790363711093,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,14]],"date-time":"2019-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1547424000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003407","name":"Ministero dell\u2019Istruzione, dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 e della Ricerca","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PRIN 2009-MBHZPR"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PRIN 2009-MBHZPR"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["K08 CA193915"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["K08 CA193915"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"St. Baldrick\u2019s Foundation","award":["Funding to JMK"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Funding to JMK"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Hepatoblastoma screening in the Beckwith\u2013Wiedemann spectrum (BWSp) is currently based on measuring a specific serum marker alpha-fetoprotein (\u03b1FP) every three months until the fourth birthday. Frequent blood draws can be a burden for patients and their families. Methods: We have developed a less invasive alternative testing method based on measuring \u03b1FPs from dried blood spots (DBS). The method was validated with 259 simultaneous plasma and DBS \u03b1FP measurements in 171 children (132 controls and 39 patients with BWSp). Results: The DBS and plasma measurements overlapped across the wide range of \u03b1FP concentrations independent of patient age (p &lt; 0.0001), demonstrating the utility of this method for longitudinal monitoring. Occasional differences between measurements by the two techniques fell within standard laboratory error and would not alter clinical management. Conclusions: This novel method shows consistent overlap with the traditional blood draws, thereby demonstrating its utility for hepatoblastoma screening in this setting and alleviating the burden of frequent blood draws. This also may help increase patient compliance and reduce costs of health care screening. The DBS-based method for the measurement of cancer biomarkers may also be applied to several other chronic diseases with increased risks of \u03b1FP-producing liver tumors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers11010086","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,14]],"date-time":"2019-01-14T12:20:07Z","timestamp":1547468407000},"page":"86","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Longitudinal Monitoring of Alpha-Fetoprotein by Dried Blood Spot for Hepatoblastoma Screening in Beckwith\u2013Wiedemann Syndrome"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2795-6013","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Mussa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"},{"name":"Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, S.Anna Hospital, Citt\u00e0 della Salute e della Scienza, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valentina","family":"Ciuffreda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pina","family":"Sauro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veronica","family":"Pagliardini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Severo","family":"Pagliardini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5690-6504","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diana","family":"Carli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Kalish","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Human Genetics, the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia and Department of Pediatrics, The Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Franca","family":"Fagioli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"},{"name":"Pediatric Onco-Hematology, Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Division, Regina Margherita Children\u2019s Hospital, Citt\u00e0 della Salute e della Scienza, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Enza","family":"Pavanello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Ferrero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Torino, 10126 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1038\/nrendo.2017.166","article-title":"Expert consensus document: Clinical and molecular diagnosis, screening and management of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome: An international consensus statement","volume":"14","author":"Brioude","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. 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