Clinical relevance of increased serum preneoplastic antigen in hepatitis C-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Characteristics of patients with hepatitis C virus-related hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma

	1: Hepatitis (n = 50)		2: Cirrhosis (n = 44)		3: HCC (n = 47)		1 vs 2	1 vs 3	2 vs 3
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	P value	P value	P value
Sex (male/female)	20/30		18/26		25/22		0.360	0.048	0.101
Age (yr)	70.2	(11.7)	71.8	(10.4)	75.3	(9.0)	0.558	0.018	0.102
Albumin (g/L)	4.2	(0.3)	3.7	(0.6)	3.7	(0.9)	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.962
AST (U/L)	44	(35)	46	(20)	60	(51)	0.056	0.033	0.861
ALT (U/L)	41	(42)	33	(20)	45	(48)	0.967	0.667	0.674
ALP (U/L)	259	(60)	345	(141)	362	(312)	0.001	0.084	0.212
Bilirubin total (mg/dL)	0.8	(0.4)	1.2	(0.7)	1.2	(1.1)	0.001	0.003	0.477
GTP (U/L)	46	(61)	47	(44)	105	(212)	0.186	0.001	0.078
Type IV collagen (ng/mL)	159	(69)	237	(88)	207	(94)	< 0.001	0.003	0.075

Results are shown as means with SD. Differences in mean values between each group were assessed with Mann–Whitney U tests, and differences in the sex ratio were assessed with χ² tests. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase ; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; GTP: Glutamyl tranpeptidase.