Table 1.

Association of peritumoral LC3B⁺ cells with clinicopathological characteristics.

		Invading Edge LC3B+ cells
Varibles		High	Low	P value
Age, years	≤ 49	22	26	0.924
	> 49	22	25
Gender	Male	43	43	0.061
	Female	1	8
HBsAg	Negative	2	3	1.000
	Positive	42	48
Cirrhosis	Absent	12	21	0.156
	Present	32	30
GPT/ALT, U/L	≤ 40	20	35	0.023
	> 40	24	16
AFP, ng/ml	≤ 25	16	14	0.351
	> 25	28	37
Tumor size, cm	≤ 5	15	16	0.778
	> 5	29	35
Tumor multiplicity	Solitary	35	42	0.728
	Multiple	9	9
Vascular invasion	Absent	41	48	0.405
	Present	4	3
Intrahepatic metastasis	No	25	42	0.006
	Yes	19	9
TNM stage	I+II	36	42	0.946
	III+IV	8	9
Tumor differentiation	I+II	35	34	0.107
	III+IV	9	17
Fibrous capsule	Absent	10	10	0.710
	Present	34	41
Tumor necrosis	Absent	41	47	0.848
	Present	3	4

Abbreviations: HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; GPT, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase; AFP, alpha fetoprotein; TNM, tumor-node-metastasis.