Chemokine ligand 20 enhances progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Table 1 Relationship between chemokine ligand 20 expression and clinicopathologic features

Clinicopathologic features	Number of patients	CCL20 expression		P value
		Low (n = 32)	High (n = 30)
Age (yr)
≤ 57	35	19	16	0.632
> 57	27	13	14
Gender
Male	47	26	21	0.301
Female	15	6	9
Etiology				0.167
HBV infection	46	26	20
HCV infection	11	2	9
Alcohol	5	4	1
Background liver pathology				0.122
Normal liver	3	2	1
Chronic hepatitis	20	11	9
Liver cirrhosis	39	19	20
AFP (ng/mL)
≤ 197	33	21	12	0.043
> 197	29	11	18
ALT (U/L)
≤ 66	28	17	11	0.193
> 66	34	15	19
Child-Pugh
A	44	21	23	0.338
B	18	11	7
Tumor size (cm)
≤ 5	41	29	12	0.000
> 5	21	3	18
Tumor number
Single	43	27	16	0.008
Multiple	19	5	14
Vascular invasion
No	51	30	21	0.014
Yes	11	2	9
Tumor encapsulation
Yes	24	14	10	0.400
No	38	18	20
Tumor differentiation
I + II	45	28	17	0.007
III + IV	17	4	13
TNM stage
I	40	22	18	0.472
II + III	22	10	12

AFP: Alpha fetoprotein; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; CCL20: Chemokine ligand 20; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; OS: Overall survival; RFS: Recurrence-free survival; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.