AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: Although macrovascular invasion, tumor size, preoperative AFP level, and histopathologic grading have been proved to be independent prognostic factors for HCC patients following LT in most previous studies [6,7], Cox univariate analysis revealed that the clinicopathological variables that could provide significant predictive value for tumor recurrence only included preoperative AFP level, tumor size and CIMP status in the present study.