Dysbiosis of Gut Microbiota Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression by Regulating the Immune Response

Figure 3

Assessment of gut barrier integrity marker and plasma level of microbial translocation markers in patients with HCC progression. (a) The level of gut damage marker of regenerating islet-derived protein 3α (REG3α) significantly increased in patients in the terminal group compared with the early and intermediate groups. The levels of Gram-negative bacterial translocation markers, (b) soluble CD14 (sCD14) and (c) lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), also elevated in patients with HCC in the terminal group. (d) The levels of Gram-positive translocation marker, peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs), showed that an increased tendency with HCC progression even significantly elevated in patients with HCC in the terminal group compared with the early group. Each dot represented one sample. Significant difference () was indicated by an asterisk.

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