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

Table 3 Expression of P-Smad2 in hepatocellular carcinomas, paracancerous tissues and non-tumor liver tissues

Parameters	Cases (n)	Mean score of P-Smad2 staining (mean ± SD)
		Nucleus	Cytoplasm
HCC (Edmondson grades)	31	8.61 ± 0.68bd	1.74 ± 3.08abd
GradeIandI-II	10	8.70 ± 0.48	4.90 ± 3.54c
Grade II	7	7.85 ± 1.07	0.71 ± 1.89c
Grade II-III and above	14	8.79 ± 0.58	0d
Paracancerous tissue	25	8.28 ± 0.74b	7.28 ± 1.21ab
Non-tumor liver tissue	13	7.08 ± 1.61bd	5.31 ± 2.84bd
Cirrhosis tissue	5	8.40 ± 0.55c	7.40 ± 1.81
Hepatitis tissue	3	5.33 ± 0.58c	1.33 ± 2.31
Normal liver tissue	5	6.80 ± 1.64	5.60 ± 0.89
Intrahepatic vascular embolism
Present	11	8.82 ± 0.40	2.36 ± 3.35
Absent	14	8.43 ± 0.76	2.00 ± 3.37

^aP < 0.05 HCC vs paracancerous tissue;

^bP < 0.005 nucleus vs cytoplasm;

^dP < 0.001 HCC vs non-tumor liver tissue;

^cP < 0.05, inter-group comparison.