Expression of HIF-2α/EPAS1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Correlation between HIF-2α/EPAS1 and clinicopathological features of HCC patients

Variant	HIF-2α/EPAS1 expression (No of cases)			No of cases 97	Significance
	-	+	++
Pathological grade
Grade I	9	4	3	16	NS
Grade II	23	8	7	38
Grade III-IV	15	7	221	43
Tumor size
2	22	3	8	33
2 - 5	16	14	13	43	0.001a
> 5	9	2	10	21
Cirrhosis
With	27	9	17	53	NS
Without	20	10	14	44
Capsule formation
With	8	1	9	18	NS
Without	39	18	22	79
Capsule infiltration
With	3	3	10	16	0.011a
Without	44	16	21	81
Portal vein invasion
With	15	15	18	48	0.001a
Without	32	4	13	49
Necrosis
With	19	12	23	54	0.010a
Without	28	7	8	43

^aP < 0.05 vs the expression of HIF-2α/EPAS1 was significant in HCC tissues with capsule infiltration, portal vein invasion, necrosis, and tumor size. NS, not significant.

Table 2 Correlation between VEGF protein and clinicopathological features of HCC patients

Variants	NO of cases 97	VEGF expression			Significance
		-	+	++
Pathological grade
Grade I	6	6	0	0	NS
Grade II	76	28	22	26
Grade III-IV	15	8	3	4
Tumor size
2	13	11	0	2	NS
2-5	49	16	14	19
> 5	35	15	11	9
Cirrhosis
With	53	20	10	23	NS
Without	44	22	15	7
Capsule formation
With	18	7	5	6	NS
Without	79	35	20	24
Capsule infiltration
With	16	4	2	10	0.011a
Without	81	38	23	20
Portal vein infiltration
With	48	14	16	18	0.020a
Without	49	20	9	12
Necrosis
With	54	15	17	22	0.011a
Without	43	27	8	8

^aP < 0.05 vs the expression of VEGF was significant in HCC with capsule infiltration, portal vein invasion, and with necrosis. NS, not significant.

Table 3 Correlation between HIF-2α/EPAS1 and VEGF protein expression in HCC tissues

Variants	NO of cases	Staining score			Significance
		-	+	++
HIF-2α/EPAS1	97	47	19	31	0.017
VEGF	97	42	25	30