TIMP1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: As shown in Table 2, most demographic and clinical characteristics were similar for the two groups, with the exception that there were more HCC patients with higher Edmonson–Steiner classification (r = 9.20, P = 0.002), advanced TNM stage (r = 9.10, P = 0.003), portal vein invasion (r = 13.86, P < 0.001) and intrahepatic metastases (r = 8.19, P = 0.004) in the TIMP-1 high group.