Table 2.

Levels of candidate biomarkers (ng/ml) as detected by specific ELISA assays

	Cirrhosis		Cirrhosis + HCC
	Mean ± S.D.	median	Mean ± S.D.	median
AFP	5.96 ± 2.65	5.00	5934.66 ± 13025.02	92.50
PIVKAII	23.47 ± 59.69	7.83	135.17 ± 168.96	42.75
GP3	125.41 ± 281.05	29.62	161.41 ± 422.33	56.57
Follistatin	72.41 ± 76.16	50.20	87.33 ± 131.31	61.35

The mean level between cirrhotic patients versus cirrhotic patients with cancer was significantly different in the cases of AFP and PIVKAII (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001 respectively, Wilcoxon). There was no significant difference between levels for GP3, CD5L or Follistatin.