Prognostic significance of preoperative circulating vascular endothelial growth factor messenger RNA expression in resectable hepatocellular carcinoma: A prospective study

Table 1 Demographic, clinical and tumor variables of patients with HCC undergoing curative resection (n = 50)

Variables	No. of patients (%)
Age (mean, years)	56.2 ± 13
Male	31 (62)
Child- Pugh’s class A	43 (86)
Serum AFP < 20 ng/mL	16 (32)
20-103 ng/mL	18 (36)
> 103 ng/mL	14 (28)
HBsAg (+)	36 (72)
Anti-HCV (+)	13 (26)
Size of HCC < 3 cm	12 (24)
3-10 cm	13 (26)
> 10 cm	25 (50)
Cirrhosis	40 (80)
Edmondson-Steiner’s Grade I	4 (8)
Grade II	12 (24)
Grade III	18 (36)
Grade IV	16 (32)
Complete capsule	19 (38)
Vascular permeation	29 (58)
Daughter nodules	31 (62)
Tumor necrosis	33 (66)
Tumor hemorrhage	29 (58)

AFP: serum alpha fetoprotein; HBsAg (+): positive hepatitis B surface antigen; Anti-HCV(+): positive hepatitis C virus antibody; Edmondson Steiner grade: differentiation grade.

Table 2 Predictors of HCC recurrence

Variable	P values
	UV	MV
Sex	0.895	-
Age	0.279	-
Size(< 3 cm, > 10 cm)	0.415	-
Liver cirrhosis	0.510	-
Child-Pugh class	0.528	-
Serum AFP	0.744	-
HBsAg (+)	0.280	-
Anti-HCV (+)	0.481	-
Edmondson Steiner grade	0.0005	0.033
Capsule	< 0.0001	0.020
Vascular permeation	< 0.0001	0.018
Daughter nodules	< 0.0001	0.006
Tumor necrosis	0.344	-
Tumor hemorrhage	0.812	-
Serum VEGF165 mRNA	0.0206	0.050
Serum VEGF121 mRNA	0.520	-

UV: univariate analysis; MV: multivariate analysis; AFP: se-rum alpha fetoprotein; HbsAg(+): positive hepatitis B surface antigen; Anti-HCV(+): positive hepatitis C virus antibody; Edmondson Steiner grade: differentiation grade I, II vs III, IV; n.s: not significant.

Table 3 Correlation between clinical and tumor variables and recurrence-related mortality

Variables	P values
	UV	MV
Sex	0.510	-
Age	0.440	-
Size (<3 cm, > 10 cm)	0.519	-
Liver cirrhosis	0.510	-
Child-Pugh class	0.548
HBsAg (+)	0.351	-
Anti-HCV (+)	0.521	-
Edmondson Steiner grade	< 0.001	0.053
Capsule	0.033	n.s.
Vascular permeation	< 0.001	0.045
Daughter nodules	0.016	n.s.
Tumor necrosis	0.373	-
Tumor hemorrhage	0.306	-
Serum VEGF165 mRNA	< 0.001	0.048
Serum VEGF121 mRNA	0.763	-

UV: univariate analysis; MV: multivariate analysis; AFP: se-rum alpha fetoprotein; HBsAg (+): positive hepatitis B surface antigen; Anti-HCV(+): positive hepatitis C virus antibody; Edmondson Steiner grade: differentiation grade I, II vs III, IV; n.s: not significant.