Folate receptor-positive circulating tumor cells might function as potential biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Relationships of circulating tumor cell levels between different patients` characteristic, mean ± SD

Characteristic	Number of patients	CTC units	P value
Sex			0.92
Female	12	14.4 ± 5.8
male	72	14.6 ± 4.9
Age			0.62
≤ 50	31	14.2 ± 3.8
> 50	53	14.8 ± 5.5
Tumor diameter			0.048a
< 5 cm	45	12.7 ± 4.9
> 5 cm	39	15.8 ± 5.0
Tumor stage			< 0.001c
BCLC (A + B)	63	12.7 ± 3.2
BCLC (C)	21	20.4 ± 5.3
Vascular invasion			0.201
No invasion	58	14.1 ± 5.01
Micro-vascular invasion	12	12.2 ± 2.09
Macro-vascular invasion	14	18.8 ± 4.29	0.0023b
Satellite			0.21
No	76	14.6 ± 5.1
yes	8	12.5 ± 2.8
AFP			0.636
≤ 8	34	14.3 ± 4.8
> 8	50	14.8 ± 5.2
Tumor number			0.003b
1	53	13.4 ± 5.0
> 1	31	16.6 ± 4.5
Extrahepatic metastasis			< 0.001c
No	10	13.5 ± 3.9
Yes	74	22.6 ± 6.6

^aP < 0.05.

^bP < 0.01.

^cP < 0.001.

BCLC: Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; CTC: Circulating tumor cells; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.