Table 1.

Correlation between MACC1, MET, or FAK expression and clinicopathological factors in 160 HCC tumors.

	MACC1 expression			MET expression			FAK expression
Variable	low	high	P value*	low	high	P value*	low	high	P value*
Age, years
<50	40	43	0.072	40	43	0.609	40	43	0.884
≥50	48	29		34	43		38	39
Gender
Female	9	5	0.465	6	8	0.790	7	7	0.922
Male	79	67		68	78		71	75
Preoperative tumor therapy
No	61	56	0.230	54	63	0.968	59	58	0.484
Yes	27	16		20	23		19	24
Tumor size
≤5 cm	49	43	0.607	43	49	0.885	47	45	0.492
>5 cm	39	29		31	37		31	37
Tumor number
Single	40	30	0.631	32	38	0.905	37	33	0.359
Multiple	48	42		42	48		41	49
Tumor differentiation
Well+moderate	49	39	0.848	42	46	0.679	38	50	0.119
Poor	39	33		32	40		40	32
Preoperative AFP
≤400 ng/ml	40	32	0.898	32	40	0.679	41	31	0.061
>400 ng/ml	48	40		42	46		37	51
Vascular invasion
None	59	43	0.338	50	52	0.351	56	46	0.039
Yes	29	29		24	34		22	36
Milan criteria
Within	32	23	0.558	27	28	0.602	30	25	0.288
Beyond	56	49		47	58		48	57
UCSF criteria
Within	39	27	0.383	31	35	0.878	37	29	0.121
Beyond	49	45		43	51		41	53

Patients with HCC who underwent LT were segregated into MACC1-low/high expression groups, MET-low/high expression groups, and FAK-low/high expression groups based on receiver operating characteristics analysis (MACC1 cut-off point 1.45, MET cut-off point 2.67, FAK cut-off point 3.28).

Apart from the presence of macrovascular invasion, the Milan criteria are matched if a single tumor is ≤ 5 cm in diameter or if there are ≤ 3 tumor nodules, each of which is 3 cm or less in diameter. The UCSF criteria are matched if a single tumor is ≤ 6.5 cm or if 2-3 lesions are each ≤ 4.5 cm with a total tumor diameter of ≤ 8 cm¹⁸.

Abbreviations: MACC1, metastasis-associated in colon cancer-1; FAK, focal adhesion kinase; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein.

*Statistical analyses were performed with the Chi-square test.