Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein improves diagnostic accuracy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study population according to the presence of hepatocellular carcinoma

Variables	All patients (n = 622)	Patients without HCC (n = 462)	Patients with HCC (n = 160)	P value
Demographic variables
Age, years	56.5 ± 13.5	54.1 ± 13.4	63.5 ± 11.3	< 0.001
Male gender	344 (55.3)	226 (48.9)	118 (73.8)	< 0.001
Chronic liver disease	355 (57.1)	198 (42.9)	157 (98.1)	< 0.001
Etiology of liver disease				< 0.001
Hepatitis B virus	211 (33.9)	114 (24.7)	97 (60.6)
Hepatitis C virus	26 (4.2)	7 (1.5)	19 (11.9)
Alcoholic liver disease	72 (11.6)	39 (8.4)	33 (20.6)
Others	46 (7.4)	38 (8.2)	8 (5.0)
Liver cirrhosis	208 (33.4)	91 (19.7)	117 (73.1)	< 0.001
Laboratory variables
Total bilirubin, mg/dL	1.4 ± 2.7	1.3 ± 2.7	1.8 ± 2.7	0.072
Albumin, g/dL	4.2 ± 1.7	4.3 ± 1.9	3.8 ± 0.7	< 0.001
Prothrombin time, INR	1.1 ± 0.2	1.0 ± 0.2	1.1 ± 0.2	< 0.001
Alanine aminotransferase, IU/L	44.8 ± 88.3	43.8 ± 99.6	47.8 ± 42.1	0.624
AFP level, ng/mL	3638.6 ± 58824.2	18.2 ± 63.8	14092.6 ± 115614.1	< 0.001
AFP-L3 fraction, %	6.7 ± 16.7	1.9 ± 3.9	20.6 ± 28.0	< 0.001
AFP-L3 level, ng/mL	833.1 ± 8811.3	1.1 ± 4.7	3235.3 ± 17185.1	< 0.001
PIVKA-II level, mAU/mL	1613.4 ± 10561.6	37.9 ± 257.3	6162.5 ± 20185.1	< 0.001
ALPs score	3488.4 ± 33695.4	11.9 ± 54.4	13526.8 ± 65558.1	< 0.001

Variables are expressed as mean ± SD or n (%). HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; AFP-L3: Lens culinaris agglutinin- reactive fraction of AFP; PIVKA-II: Protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II; ALPs: AFP, AFP-L3 fraction, and PIVKA-II.

Table 2 Binary regression analysis for the presence of hepatocellular carcinoma

	Beta coefficient	Standard error	P value
AFP-L3 level	0.038	0.017	0.021
PIVKA-II level	0.002	0.001	0.003

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; PIVKA-II: Protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II.