Table 3.
Correlation between CTC-NLR score and clinicopathological characteristics of HCC patients.
| Variable | CTC-NLR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score 0 (N = 49) | Score 1 (N = 39) | Score 2 (N = 9) | P | |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 41 | 36 | 8 | 0.459 |
| Female | 8 | 3 | 1 | |
| Age (years) | ||||
| <45 | 19 | 17 | 4 | 0.883 |
| ≥45 | 30 | 22 | 5 | |
| HBsAg | ||||
| Negative | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0.204 |
| Positive | 45 | 33 | 9 | |
| Liver cirrhosis | ||||
| Negative | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.060 |
| Positive | 45 | 39 | 9 | |
| HBV-DNA (IU/mL) | ||||
| <5 × 102 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 0.064 |
| ≥5 × 102 | 35 | 29 | 9 | |
| AFP (ng/mL) | ||||
| <400 | 31 | 8 | 3 | <0.001 |
| ≥400 | 18 | 31 | 6 | |
| ALB (g/L) | ||||
| <35 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0.392 |
| ≥35 | 45 | 33 | 7 | |
| Tumor size (cm) | ||||
| <5 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 0.036 |
| ≥5 | 33 | 35 | 7 | |
| Tumor number | ||||
| 1 | 38 | 23 | 2 | 0.004 |
| >1 | 11 | 16 | 7 | |
| BCLC stage | ||||
| 0-A | 37 | 16 | 2 | <0.001 |
| B-C | 12 | 23 | 7 | |
| PVTT | ||||
| Negative | 43 | 26 | 6 | 0.042 |
| Positive | 6 | 13 | 3 | |
| MVI | ||||
| Negative | 19 | 10 | 2 | 0.337 |
| Positive | 30 | 29 | 7 | |
AFP: alpha-fetoprotein; ALB: albumin; CTC: circulating tumor cell count; NLR: neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio; BCLC stage: Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage; HBsAg: hepatitis B surface antigen; HBV-DNA: hepatitis B virus DNA; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; MVI: microvascular invasion; PVTT: portal vein tumor thrombosis.