If a higher threshold of AFP (400 ng/mL) was combined with hnRNP K, the overall accuracy decrease either in the parallel test (62.5% vs 55%) or in the serial test (72.5% vs 70%), suggested that the combination of fixed hnRNP K with relative lower AFP (100 ng/mL) as a cutoff threshold was more powerful to diagnose early HCC. This evidence concerns the gene AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma.