Clinical significance and usefulness of soluble heparin binding-epidermal growth factor in gastric cancer

Table 5 Correlations between serum soluble heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor and clinicopathological characteristics of each group

Clinicopathological characteristics	Serum sHB-EGF	Serum CEA
	γs (P value)	γs (P value)
Age (yr)1	-0.265 (0.001)	-0.087 (0.275)
Sex (male:female)	0.138 (0.076)	-0.021 (0.792)
H. pylori infection (-/+)	-0.054 (0.486)	-0.114 (0.151)
Histology (well:mod:poorly:signet)	0.214 (0.078)	0.090 (0.465)
Tumor location (lower:middle:upper)	-0.052 (0.652)	-0.048 (0.691)
T-stage (T1a:T1b:T2:T3:T4)	0.669 (< 0.001)	0.201 (0.101)
N-stage (N0:N1:N2:N3)	0.407 (0.001)	0.073 (0.552)
Distant metastasis (M0:M1)	0.261 (0.030)	0.328 (0.006)
Overall stage (I:II:III:IV)	0.570 (< 0.001)	0.229 (0.060)
Size of tumor (< 3 cm; 3-5 cm and > 5 cm)2	0.237 (0.048)	0.362 (0.002)

¹This value is continuous variable. Thus, correlation is evaluated by Pearson’s correlation (γ_p).

²Subjects were classified into three groups according to primary GC size: < 3 cm, 3-5 cm, and > 5 cm to analyze the relationship between serum HB-EGF levels and primary GC size. CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; H. pylori: Helicobacter pylori; Mod: Moderate-differentiated carcinoma; Poorly: Poorly-differentiated carcinoma; Signet: Signet ring cell carcinoma; sHB-EGF: Soluble heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor; Well: Well-differentiated carcinoma; γ_s: Spearman’s correlation coefficient. P < 0.05 (two-tailed) was considered statistically significant. Statistically significant values are given in bold print.