Clinical utility of telomeres as diagnostic and short-term prognostic markers in loco-regional treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 7 Correlations between alpha fetoprotein (ng/mL) and age, telomere length, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, Child-Pugh score and tumor size before and after treatment in the hepatocellular carcinoma and chronic liver disease groups (Spearman correlation test)

AFP with variables		HCC group (total = 30)			CLD group (total = 30)
		Before	After	Change
Age (years)	r value	-0.110			0.000
	P value	0.561			0.999
Telomere length (× 103)	r value	-0.182	0.147	-0.196	0.084
	P value	0.335	0.437	0.298	0.659
MELD score	r value	0.304	0.349	0.005	0.150
	P value	0.102	0.059	0.978	0.430
Child-Pugh score	r value	0.214	0.350	-0.163	0.046
	P value	0.257	0.058	0.390	0.809
Tumor size (cm2)	r value	0.422	0.112	0.209
	P value	0.021	0.703	0.474

¹P value < 0.050.

AFP: Alpha fetoprotein; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; CLD: Chronic liver disease; MELD: Model for End-Stage Liver Disease.