α-fetoprotein, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 and early recurrence of hepatoma

Table 1 Characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma patients according to their bone marrow-α-fetoprotein and peripheral blood-α-fetoprotein mRNA profile

		BM-AFP mRNA		P value	PH-AFP mRNA		P value
		Positive (n = 34)	Negative (n = 80)		Positive (n = 6)	Negative (n = 105)
Sex	Male	27	67	0.5774	5	86	0.9294
	Female	7	13		1	19
Age (yr)	≤ 60	19	34	0.1900	5	47	0.0655
	> 60	15	46		1	58
HBsAg	+	19	30	0.0697	3	45	0.7312
	-	15	50		3	60
HCV	+	12	34	0.4731	2	43	0.7116
	-	22	46		4	62
Albumin	≤ 4.0 mg/dL	13	33	0.7641	3	41	0.5937
	> 4.0 mg/dL	21	47		3	64
Total bilirubin	≤ 0.7 mg/dL	21	45	0.5853	4	60	0.6461
	≥ 0.8 mg/dL	13	35		2	45
ICGR15	≤ 15%	22	39	0.1181	3	56	0.8736
	> 15%	12	41		3	49
Anatomical resection	Yes	25	54	0.5231	4	73	0.8826
	No	9	26		2	32
AFP	≤ 200 ng/mL	21	57	0.3189	1	76	0.0040
	> 200 ng/nL	13	23		5	29
AFPL3	≤ 15%	21	58	0.2556	2	76	0.0418
	> 15%	13	22		4	29
PIVKA-II	≤ 40 mAU/mL	8	30	0.1477	1	36	0.3732
	> 40 mAU/mL	26	50		5	69
Tumor number	Solitary	25	57	0.8804	2	78	0.0259
	Multiple	9	22		4	26
Tumor size	≤ 2 cm	2	10	0.2922	0	12	0.3806
	> 2 cm	32	70		6	93
Differentiation	Well	0	7	0.0737	0	7	0.5859
	Moderately	26	49		3	70
	Poorly	7	24		3	27
vp	Positive	14	18	0.0423	5	25	0.0014
	Negative	20	62		1	80
vv	Positive	3	4	0.4366	1	5	0.2098
	Negative	31	76		5	100
im	Positive	12	18	0.1558	4	25	0.0201
	Negative	22	62		2	80
Noncancerous liver		11	28	0.6833	1	36	0.3501
Liver cirrhosis
Non liver cirrhosis		23	49		5	66

BM: Bone marrow; PH: Peripheral blood; AFP: α-fetoprotein; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; HCV: Anti-hepatitis C virus antibody; AR: Patients who underwent anatomical resection; ICGR15: Indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min; vp: Microscopic tumor thrombus in the portal vein; vv: Microscopic tumor thrombus in the hepatic vein; im: Microscopic intrahepatic metastasis.