Expression of PTEN, PPM1A and P-Smad2 in hepatocellular carcinomas and adjacent liver tissues

Table 2 Expression of PPM1A in hepatocellular carcinomas, para-cancerous tissues and non-tumor liver tissues

Parameters	Cases (n)	Mean score of PPM1A staining (mean ± SD)
		Nucleus	Cytoplasm
HCC (Edmondson grades)	31	3.45 ± 3.00abc	6.32 ± 3.00abc
GradeIandI-II	10	5.60 ± 2.54e	3.90 ± 4.14e
Grade II	7	3.57 ± 2.15b	7.86 ± 0.69
Grade II-III and above	14	1.86 ± 2.79d,b	7.28 ± 1.38be
Paracancerous tissue	25	6.28 ± 1.95ab	2.08 ± 3.45ab
Non-tumor liver tissue	13	5.38 ± 1.45be	0cb
Liver cirrhosis	5	6.40 ± 0.55	0
Hepatitis	3	3.33 ± 0.58	0
Normal liver tissue	5	5.60 ± 1.14	0
Intrahepatic vascular embolism
Present	11	3.82 ± 3.22	6.09 ± 3.11
Absent	14	3.71 ± 3.05	6.14 ± 3.44

^aP < 0.05 HCC vs paracancerous tissue;

^bP < 0.01 nucleus vs cytoplasm;

^cP < 0.05 HCC vs non-tumor liver tissue;

^eP < 0.05, inter-group comparison.