VCAN, expressed highly in hepatitis B virus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma, is a potential biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitors

Table 3 Correlation between VCAN mRNA expression and clinical features

Variable	VCAN RNA expression (median as cutoff)		P value
	Low	High
Age	56.60 ± 8.45	55.00 ± 9.82	0.552
Male/female	39/11	38/12	0.705
Anti-viral treatment/no treatment	23/27	35/15	0.110
HBeAg (+)/(-)	21/29	5/45	0.028
HBV-DNA (IU/mL): ≤ 102/> 102	13/37	34/16	0.025
Child-Pugh: A/B&C	35/15	31/19	0.490
AFP (ng/mL)	11.59 (3.47, 135.68)	21.43 (1.84, 210.88)	0.698
Total bilirubin (μmol/L)	26.37 (18.70, 50.25)	16.26 (11.47, 29.14)	0.035
Direct bilirubin (μmol/L)	8.44 (6.64, 27.92)	5.28 (3.51, 13.96)	0.043
Indirect bilirubin (μmol/L)	17.21 (12.23, 22.83)	10.51 (6.78, 13.39)	0.007
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	2.90 ± 0.82	3.56 ± 0.81	0.015
LDL-C (mmol/L)	1.74 ± 0.59	2.25 ± 0.59	0.009
WBC (× 109/L)	3.54 ± 1.40	6.12 ± 2.40	< 0.001
Neutrophil (%)	58.69 ± 13.24	57.31 ± 14.48	0.302
Platelet (× 109/L)	76.60 ± 49.14	172.6 ± 87.01	< 0.001
Prothrombin time (s)	11.85 (10.85, 15.55)	11.15 (10.43, 11.83)	0.030
Prothrombin activity (%)	75.64 ± 21.15	89.37 ± 12.74	0.018
Fibrinogen (mg/dL)	186.00 ± 49.53	267.55 ± 111.17	0.006

LDL-C: Low density lipoprotein cholesterol; WBC: White blood cells; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.