SEPT9 Gene Methylation as a Noninvasive Marker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Table 2

Performances of plasma SEPT9 methylation (mSEPT9) and serum AFP in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or early-stage HCC.

Cut-off value		AUC		Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	PPV; (%)	NPV; (%)	Accuracy (%)
		Value	95% CI
HCC vs. HC
mSEPT9		0.961	0.933-0.989	82.7	96.0	92.5	90.3	91.0
AFP	> 20 ng/mL	0.881	0.833-0.928	57.7	98.3	95.2	79.5	83.1
SEPT9+AFP		0.986	0.974-0.999	91.3	94.8	91.3	94.8	93.5
Early-stage HCC vs. HC
mSEPT9		0.946	0.907-0.985	76.7	96.0	88.9	90.8	90.3
AFP	>20 ng/mL	0.852	0.789-0.914	52.1	98.3	92.7	83.0	84.6
SEPT9+AFP		0.980	0.962-0.999	87.7	94.8	87.7	94.8	92.7
HCC vs. at-risk
mSEPT9		0.843	0.787-0.899	82.7	83.2	84.3	81.4	82.9
AFP	>20 ng/mL	0.812	0.751-0.873	57.7	86.3	82.2	65.1	71.4
SEPT9+AFP		0.863	0.812-0.914	91.3	76.8	81.2	89.0	84.4
Early-stage HCC vs. at-risk
mSEPT9		0.799	0.73-0.868	76.7	83.2	77.8	82.3	80.4
AFP	>20 ng/mL	0.779	0.707-0.852	52.1	86.3	74.5	70.1	71.4
SEPT9+AFP		0.817	0.753-0.881	87.7	76.8	74.4	89.0	81.5

HCC indicates hepatocellular carcinoma. HC indicates healthy control. Early-stage HCC represents patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma. At-risk indicates noncancerous liver diseases, including cirrhosis and hepatitis. AFP indicates alpha fetoprotein. CT indicates cycle threshold. AUC represents area under curve. CI indicates confidence interval. PPV indicates positive predictive value. NPV means negative predictive value.