Figure 2

Four mediators’ expression in tumor severity. Among the four mediators, IL-6 and VEGF showed significant expressions in patients with stages 3 or 4 HCC according to the classifications of TNM staging system (Figure 2A), but only IL-6 showed a significant difference in patients with advanced or terminal-stage HCC according to classification of the BCLC staging system (Figure 2B), *P < 0.05 defined as significant.