New stem cell autophagy surrogate diagnostic biomarkers in early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma in Egypt: A pilot study

Table 2 Significance of the differences in laboratory data between the three study groups (mean ± SD)

Variable	HCC (n = 34)	Chronic liver infection (n = 11)	Control (n = 5)	F1	P value
INR	1.37a ± 0.20	1.35a ± 0.30	1.07b ± 0.08	3.93	0.03 S
Serum albumin (g/dL)	2.94 ± 0.42	3.03 ± 0.73	3.40 ± 0.25	1.95	0.15 NS
AST2 (IU/L)	50.00a ± 38.00–102.00	23.00b ± 15.00–39.00	15.00b ± 14.00–18.00	16.21	< 0.001 HS
ALT2 (IU/L)	40.50a ± 28.00–73.30	22.00 ± 15.00–38.00	10.00b ± 8.00–15.00	12.69	0.002 HS
Total bilirubin2 (mg/dL)	1.60a ± 1.10–2.20	1.10 ± 0.50–1.60	0.40b ± 0.30–0.50	14.91	0.001 HS
Direct bilirubin2 (mg/dL)	0.70a ± 0.50–1.10	0.30b ± 0.10–0.60	0.10b ± 0.10–0.20	15.84	< 0.001 HS

¹One-way analysis of variance (a, b Post-hoc test).

²Kruskal–Wallis test (median and interquartile range).

^aP < 0.05.

^bP < 0.01.

ALT: Alanine transaminase; AST: Aspartate transaminase; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; HS: Highly significant; INR: International normalized ratio; NS: Non-significant; SD: Standard deviation.