Tumor apelin, not serum apelin, is associated with the clinical features and prognosis of gastric cancer

BMC Cancer

Table 3 The association between Tumor and serum Apelin levels and clinical characteristics in GC patients

Variables	Number of cases	Apelin expression level			P value	Serum Apelin (ng/mL)	P value
		++ (n = 120)	+(n = 99)		-(n = 51)
Gender
male	175	76	69	30	0.377	3.35 ± 1.45	0.345
female	95	44	30	21		3.33 ± 1.37
Age (years)
< 60	171	80	60	31	0.569	3.31 ± 1.76	0.143
> 60	99	40	39	20		3.35 ± 1.77
Tumor size (cm)
< 5	91	39	29	23	0.142	3.29 ± 1.67	0.167
> 5	179	81	70	28		3.38 ± 1.26
Tumor differentiation
Poorly	166	98	58	10	<0.001	3.24 ± 2.01	0.187
Well, moderately	104	22	41	41		3.36 ± 1.555
Tumor stage
T1 + T2	106	13	59	34	<0.001	3.40 ± 2.11	0.057
T3 + T4	164	107	40	17		3.27 ± 1.25
Lymph node metastasis
Negative	90	26	24	40	<0.001	3.27 ± 1.62	0.043
Positive	180	94	75	11		3.39 ± 1.28
Distant metastasis
Positive	88	51	21	16	0.004	3.34 ± 1.87	0.787
Negative	182	69	78	35		3.34 ± 0.87

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