Fig. 1.

Study design, and HCV RNA levels in multiple liver areas of patients with HCC and controls with non-HCC cirrhosis. (A and B) Study design illustrating the location of the liver specimens collected from each of eight livers containing HCC (A) and from four controls with non-HCC cirrhosis (B). In HCC, the dark-brown solid circle indicates the tumor, and the different color dots represent samples collected at various distances from the center of the tumor in the four directions (north, south, east, and west). Five biopsies were obtained from the tumor, including one from the center (area A) and four from the periphery (area B), and 12 from the surrounding nontumorous areas, including four from the perilesional tissue (area C), four taken 2–3 cm from the tumor margin (area D), and four from the edge (area E) of the liver. In non-HCC cirrhosis, four liver specimens, two from the right lobe (R1 and R2) and two from the left lobe (L1 and L2), were obtained from each liver. (C) Bars represent the mean ± SEM HCV RNA levels in different areas of the livers containing HCC from all eight patients. Data from the center of the tumor (area A) represent individual samples; data from each of the remaining liver samples (areas B–E) represent the average levels from multiple specimens obtained in the four directions for each area. (D) Bars represent the mean ± SEM HCV RNA levels in different areas of the livers from the four controls with non-HCC cirrhosis. (E) Horizontal bars indicate the mean ± SEM HCV RNA levels in tumorous and nontumorous tissues of individual patients with HCC. (F) Horizontal bars indicate the levels of HCV RNA in the left and right lobes of individual controls with non-HCC cirrhosis.