Demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics of the studied groups
| Characteristics | Group I (HCC) (n=50) | Group II (cirrhosis) (n=49) | Group III (healthy control) (n=50) | P value |
| Age (years) | 59.2±6.7 | 58.8±6.3 | 57.5±7.1 | 0.422 |
| Gender, n (%) | 0.720 | |||
| Male | 27 (54.0) | 23 (46.9) | 27 (54.0) | |
| Female | 23 (46.0) | 26 (53.1) | 23 (46.0) | |
| Ascites, n (%) | 26 (52.0) | 33 (67.3) | – | 0.120 |
| Lower limb edema, n (%) | 34 (68.0) | 39 (79.6) | – | 0.190 |
| Total bilirubin (mg/dL) | 2.2±1.2† | 2.4±0.9† | 0.6±0.2 | <0.001* |
| ALT (U/L) | 76±32† | 68±19† | 20±6 | <0.001* |
| AST (U/L) | 95±43† | 79±25† | 24±7 | <0.001* |
| ALK (U/L) | 96±29† | 106±27† | 64±19 | <0.001* |
| Albumin (g/dL) | 2.7±0.8† | 2.5±0.4† | 4.0±0.4 | <0.001* |
| INR | 1.9±0.7† | 2.1±0.7† | 1.0±0.1 | <0.001* |
| AFP (ng/mL) | 356.1±257.3 †‡ | 155.2±65.6† | 4.9±2.0 | <0.001* |
| NRP-1 (pg/mL) | 2221.8±1056.6†‡ | 1108.9±526.6† | 219.3±61.8 | <0.001* |
| ANG-2 (pg/mL) | 3018.5±841.4†‡ | 2179.1±599.2 | 2007.7±904.8 | <0.001* |
Data are expressed as mean±SD.
*P<0.05 significant.
†Significant with group III.
‡Significant with group II.
AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; ALK, alkaline phosphatase; ALT, alanine transaminase; ANG-2, angiopoietin-2; AST, aspartate transaminase; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; INR, international normalized ratio; NRP-1, neuropilin-1.