Blood exosomal micro ribonucleic acid profiling reveals the complexity of hepatocellular carcinoma and identifies potential biomarkers for differential diagnosis

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients and control individuals

	Cohort 1 (n = 44)	Cohort 2 (n = 45)
Age (yr), average	46.0 ± 10.24	47.2 ± 11.02
Gender
Male	36	41
Female	8	4
Category
HBV infected group	10	8
Liver cirrhosis group	10	10
HCC tumor group	24	27
BCLC stage1
Stage A	8	9
Stage B	8	8
Stage C	8	10
Drinking history
No daily drinking2	29	21
Daily drinking3	15	24
Intake of alcohol (g/d), average	97 ± 143	121 ± 121
AFP (ng/mL) of HCC, average	350.75 ± 361.98	221.86 ± 274.84
CA19-9 (KU/L) of HCC, average	44.63 ± 59.17	28.96 ± 59.2
CEA (ng/mL) of HCC, average	2.98 ± 1.98	3.94 ± 7.32

¹Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage.

²Daily consumption of alcohol under 12 g was defined as “No daily drinking”.

³Daily drinking greater than or equal to 12 g of alcohol was defined as “Daily drinking”. HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; AFP: αfetoprotein.