Table 3.

Correlation between CTSA expression and clinical outcomes in HCC patients (n = 136).

Characteristics	CTSA level
	N	High (n)	Low (n)	P-value*
Age (year)
> 55	70	48	42	0.589
<  = 55	66	22	24
Gender
Male	119	59	60	0.304
Female	17	11	6
Tumor size (cm)
> 5 cm	71	37	34	0.506
<  = 5 cm	65	33	32
TNM staging
I/II	88	39	49	0.024
III	48	31	17
Serum AFP level
> 400 ng/ml	63	42	21	0.001
<  = 400 ng/ml	73	28	45
Tumor location
Left	44	28	16	0.037
Right	92	42	50
Tumor differentiation
Low	14	9	5	0.031
Median	97	53	44
High	25	8	17
Vascular invasion
Yes	68	36	32	0.432
No	68	34	34
Tumor encapsulation
Yes	51	42	48	0.083
No	191	28	18
Recurrence
Yes	74	45	29	0.013
No	62	25	37
Survival
Alive	79	35	44	0.036
Dead	57	35	22