Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Characteristics	Number of patients	High MEG3 expression (%)	Low MEG3 expression (%)	P value
Gender				0.526
Male	23	10 (43.48)	13 (56.52)
Female	7	4 (57.14)	3 (42.86)
Age (years)				0.654
<55	18	9 (50.00)	9 (50.00)
≥55	12	5 (41.67)	7 (58.33)
Tumor size (cm)				0.464
<5	15	8 (53.33)	7 (46.67)
≥5	15	6 (40.00)	9 (60.00)
Serum AFP (ng/mL)				0.818
<20	7	3 (42.86)	4 (57.14)
≥20	23	11 (47.83)	12 (52.17)
HBsAg				0.873
Negative	9	4 (44.44)	5 (55.56)
Positive	21	10 (47.62)	11 (52.38)
Liver cirrhosis				0.919
Absence	11	5 (45.45)	6 (54.55)
Presence	19	9 (47.37)	10 (52.63)
Histological differentiation				0.727
Well	4	2 (50.00)	2 (50.00)
Moderate	13	5 (38.46)	8 (61.54)
Poor	13	7 (53.85)	6 (46.15)
TNM stage				0.028
I + II	15	10 (66.67)	5 (33.33)
III + IV	15	4 (26.67)	11 (73.33)
Metastasis				<0.001
No	15	12 (80.00)	3 (20.00)
Yes	15	2 (13.33)	13 (86.67)

Data are reported as number and percentage. Chi-squared test was used to compare groups.