Table 2. Comparison of hepatic expression of GHR, STAT5, IGF-1, Snail-1 and TGFBR2 proteins in the study groups.

Variable	HCC patients G1(n = 40)	Cirrhotic patients G2(n = 40)	Healthy controls G3(n = 20)	p-value
				Among 3 groups	p1	P2	P3
Hepatic expression:
GHR [median (IQR)]	0.5(0–3.8)	4(0.8–6)	6(4–7)	<0.001	0.02	<0.001	0.01
STAT5 [(median (IQR)]	0.9(0–2)	1.5(0–4)	4(2–5.5)	0.003	0.02	<0.001	0.03
IGF-1[(median (IQR)]	1.5(0–6)	4(3–6)	6(4.5–9)	0.001	0.048	<0.001	0.025
Snail-1 [(median (IQR)]	4(3–6)	2(1–3)	1(1–2)	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.228
TGFBR2 [(median (IQR)]	2.5(2–4)	4(3–6)	6(3–9)	0.028	0.046	0.019	0.213

HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; G: group; n: number; GHR: growth hormone receptor; STAT5: signal transducer and activator of transcription 5; IGF-1: insulin like growth factor-1, TGFBR2: type2 transforming growth factor-beta receptor. Data are expressed as median (interquartile range) and compared using Kruskal Wallis test among the three groups followed by Mann Whitney test between each two groups; p1: G1 vs. G2; p2: G1 vs. G3; p3: G2 vs. G3.

Bold values denote significant results