Impairment of IFN-α production capacity in patients with hepatitis C virus and the risk of the development of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 IFN-α production capacity and the risk of HCC development within 3 years of LC

		Group A			Group B
n		11			10
Age	(yr)	63.6	±	8.3	64.6	±	6.7
IFN-α	(IU/mL	2 406	±	1 239	3 936	±	2 284
IFN-α/WBC	(IU/1 000 WBC)	0.66	±	0.32	1.14	±	0.53a
AST(GOT)	(IU/mL)	97.0	±	52.7	55.9	±	21.3a
ALT(GPT)	(IU/mL)	99.2	±	47.0	54.8	±	22.4b
Plt	(x103/μL)	79.8	±	44.8	93.6	±	39.2

^aP<0.05,

^bP<0.01

Table 2 Relationship between IFN-α production capacity and incidence of HCC development of patients within 3 years

IFN-α IU/1 000 WBC	No of patients	No of patients	%
		who developed HCC within 3 yr
≥0.87	9	2	22.2
＜0.87	12	9	75a

^aP<0.05