Clinical implication of ZEB-1 and E-cadherin expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

BMC Cancer

Table 2 Clinicopathological Variables and ZEB1 and E-cadherin expression in HCC

		ZEB1			E-cadherin
Variable	Total no. (n = 108)	positive (n = 23)	negative (n = 85)	p-value	preserved (n = 64)	reduced (n = 44)	p-value
Gender
Male	85	18	67	0.996	47	38	0.107
Female	23	5	18		17	6
Tumor size (mm)
≧4.5 cm	33	10	27	0.227	21	16	0.702
<4.5 cm	75	13	58		43	28
Vascular invasion
Present	38	13	25	0.016	21	17	0.533
Absent	70	10	60		43	27
Infiltration into capsule (Fc-inf)
Present	84	18	66	0.95	51	33	0.565
Absent	24	5	19		13	11
Intrahepatic metastasis
Present	27	9	18	0.078	13	33	<0.001
Absent	81	14	67		51	11
Gross classification^*
Localized	69	13	56	0.095	43	26	0.389
Invasive	29	10	19		21	18
Differentiation^*
Well	18	3	15	0.5	9	9	0.717
Moderate	76	15	61		46	30
Poor	12	4	8		7	5
PIVKA II level (mAU/ml) (n = 91)
Normal (≦40 )	23	5	18	0.906	16	7	0.36
High (>40 )	68	14	54		40	28
AFP level (ng/ml) (n = 95)
Normal (≦20 )	48	10	38	0.837	29	19	0.732
High (>20 )	47	9	38		30	17
Pathological TMN Stage^*
I + II + III	88	15	73	0.023	56	32	0.05
IV	20	8	12		8	12
Immunohistochemical staining
ZEB-1							0.027
Positive	23		9		14
negative	80				55	30

^*The histological grade of each tumor and the tumor staging were determined by the General Rules for the Clinical and Pathological Study of Primary Liver Cancer (The Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan, 2009, 5th edition).

ISSN: 1471-2407