Proteinase-activated receptor 2 promotes tumor cell proliferation and metastasis by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition and predicts poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Clinicopathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma patients according to proteinase-activated receptor 2 expression

Clinicopathological variable	PAR2 expression
	Low	High	P value
All cases	22	38
Gender
Male	16	28	0.832
Female	6	10
Age (yr)
< 60	10	22	0.352
≥ 60	12	16
TNM stage
Early (I-II)	16	12	0.001a
Late (III-IV)	6	26
Tumor size (cm)
Small (≤ 5)	15	15	0.032a
Large (> 5)	7	23
Microvascular invasion
Present	5	21	0.037a
Absent	17	17
HBsAg
Negative	3	7	0.632
Positive	19	31
Serum AFP level (ng/mL)
< 400	18	25	0.154
≥ 400	4	13

^aP < 0.05. PAR2: Proteinase-activated receptor 2; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.