Dynamics of cytokines predicts risk of hepatocellular carcinoma among chronic hepatitis C patients after viral eradication

Figure 1 Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; IFN: Interferon; DAA: Direct-acting antiviral agent.

Figure 2 Cytokine expression between the hepatocellular carcinoma and non-hepatocellular carcinoma groups among chronic hepatitis C patients with advanced fibrosis. A: Tumor necrosis factor-α; B: Tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis. Δ = (posttreatment cytokine level) - (pretreatment cytokine level). The bar represents the means ± SE. The P value was tested by the Mann–Whitney U test. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α; TWEAK: TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis; IFN: Interferon; Pre-Tx: Pretreatment; Post-Tx: Posttreatment.

Figure 3 Multivariate Cox regression analysis of tumor necrosis factor-α associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in subgroups. Comparison of the cumulative probability of hepatocellular carcinoma development divided by Δtumor necrosis factor-α with a cutoff value of -5.7 pg/mL in patients with (A) hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) < 7%, (B) age < 65 years old and (C) HbA1c < 7% and age < 65 years old. The P value was adjusted by age, sex, Fibrosis-4 index, and HbA1c. HR: Hazard ratio; CI: Confidence interval; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α; HbA1c: Hemoglobin A1c.

Figure 4 Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for the hepatocellular carcinoma predictive model. IFN: Interferon; AUC: Area under the curve.

Figure 5 Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for chronic hepatitis C patients stratified by the risk scores. IFN: Interferon.