Table 1. General clinical characteristics of the different study groups.

	Normal subjects (n=8)	Chronic hepatitis B patients (n=12)	Acute liver failure patients (n=12)	P-value
Age (years)	39.4±3.6	32.4±4.1	41.6±5.3	0.11
Gender (male/female)	6/2	7/5	8/4	0.437
Alanine aminotransferase (U/l)	35.1±6.1	93.3±18.3	210.4±76.3	0.026
Aspartate aminotransferase (U/l)	30.6±3.9	62.6±15.4	305.8±44.6	0.038
Serum bilirubin (μmol/l)	8.8±2.9	20.9±6.3	196.1±50.6	0.01
Prothrombin time (s)	9±2.4	15±5.2	34.4±7.2	0.022
Albumin (g/l)	46.2±6.9	32.6±10.8	26.7±5.7	0.039
Creatinine (μmol/l)	73.6±21.5	80.1±29.0	95.4±32.8	0.042
Hepatic encephalopathy score	—	—	1.7±0.3	—
Child–Pugh score	—	6±0.6	13.7±2.4	0.031
Model for end-stage liver disease score	—	—	28.2±4.2	—
HBsAg test	—	Positive	Positive	—