Identification of biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma by semiquantitative immunocytochemistry

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of individuals enrolled in the study n (%)

Clinical characteristics	HCC number	Control number
Age at baseline, years
≥ 60	20 (32.3)	6 (27.3)
< 60	42 (67.7)	16 (72.7)
Median	55	51
Range	29-76	20-72
Sex
Male	53 (85.5)	11 (50.0)
Female	9 (14.5)	11 (50.0)
KPS score
> 80	31 (50.0)	22 (100.0)
60-80	31 (50.0)	0 (0.0)
Hepatitis infection
HBV positive	59 (95.2)	7 (31.2)
HBV negative	3 (4.8)	15 (68.2)
Tumor size (cm)		NA
≤ 3.0	21 (33.9)
> 3.0	41 (66.1)
Primary foci		NA
Single	54 (87.1)
Multiple	8 (12.9)
Carcinoma cell embolus		NA
Yes	1 (1.6)
No	61 (98.4)
AJCC stage at enrollment		NA
Early (stage 1 + 2)	55 (88.7)
Late (stage 3 + 4)	7 (11.3)

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; KPS: Karnofsky performance status; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer; NA: Not applicable.

Table 2 Positive ratios of epithelial cell adhesion molecule/CD133 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

%	Bel7402	Bel7404	SMMC7721	Huh7	HepG2	Hep3B	SK-Hep-I	L02
EpCAM	0.4	1.2	0.2	1	0.6	0.8	2	0
CD133	0.4	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.6	0

EpCAM: Epithelial cell adhesion molecule.

Table 3 Spearman rank correlation analysis for fluorescence intensities

P value	Age	AFP	ALT	AST	TBIL	Size	Differentiation	AJCC stage
ASGPR	0.945	0.909	0.131	0.281	0.810	0.537	0.418	0.796
GPC3	0.863	0.911	0.549	0.846	0.288	0.357	0.623	0.849
CK	0.889	0.173	0.573	0.771	0.970	0.173	0.974	0.425

ASGPR: Asialoglycoprotein receptor; GPC3: Glypican-3; CK: Cytokeratin 8/18/19; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; TBIL: Total bilirubin; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer.