Figure 2

Serum hTERTmRNA and AFP mRNA expression in patients with HCC, LC, and CH, and in healthy individuals and receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve analyses of hTERTmRNA, AFP, AFP-L3, and DCP. A. hTERTmRNA level in liver diseases. Serum hTERTmRNA levels and AFPmRNA level in patients with HCC, LC, CH, and healthy individuals by real-time RT-PCR were shown. The 95% confidence interval in each group is shown beside the dots. Significant differences between 4 groups are shown in the upper part of the figure. NL, individual with normal liver; CH, chronic hepatitis; LC, liver cirrhosis; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma. Optimal cut-off values for hTERTmRNA expressions were predicted as 9,332 copies/0.2 ml. B. ROC curve analysis of hTERTmRNA, AFP, AFP-L3, and DCP was obtained by importing quantified raw data into SPSS II software. The data were analyzed by Paired t test (P = 0.01) and non-parametric Spearman's test (P = 0.017). AUC of each biomarker in ROC curve analysis is shown. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of hTERTmRNA, AFP, AFP-L3, and DCP was obtained by importing quantified raw data into SPSS II. The solid line, bold dotted line, dotted line, and bold solid line correspond to DCP, AFP, AFP-L3 and hTERTmRNA, respectively.