Table 2.

Relationship between plasma IL-6 level and clinicopathologic features

Variable	Plasma IL-6 level (pg/ml)
	High (n=147)		Low (n=206)
	No. of patients	%	No. of patients	%	P
Gender					0.064
Female	24	16	20	10
Male	123	84	186	90
Age (years)					0.276
≤50	59	40	71	34
>50	88	60	135	66
HBsAg					0.947
Negative	26	18	37	18
Positive	121	82	169	82
HBcAb					0.500
Negative	16	11	18	9
Positive	131	89	188	91
Cirrhosis					0.951
No	16	11	22	11
Yes	131	89	184	89
ALT (U/L)					0.750
≤75	126	86	179	87
>75 AFP (ng/mL)	21	14	27	13	0.704
≤20	45	31	67	33
>20	102	69	139	67
Tumor size (cm)					<0.001
≤5	51	35	117	57
>5	96	65	89	43
Tumor number					0.977
Single	124	84	174	84
Multiple	23	16	32	26
Tumor capsule					0.032
None	98	67	114	55
Complete	49	33	92	45
Tumor thrombus					0.018
No	78	53	135	66
Yes	69	47	71	34
Tumor differentiation					0.781
I+II	100	68	143	69
III+IV	47	32	63	31
TNM stage					0.018
I	64	44	116	56
II+III	83	56	90	44
BCLC stage					0.762
0+A	118	80	168	82
B+C	29	20	38	18

Abbreviations: HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; HBcAb, hepatitis B core antibody; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; TNM, tumor-node-metastasis; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer. Statistical analysis: Chi-Square.