MAL and hepatocellular carcinoma: To confirm these differentially expressed MAL-associated serum glycoproteins, three up-regulated proteins (Gal-3BP, α-2-macroglobulin and α-1-antitrypsin) and one down-regulated protein (vitamin D-binding protein) were selected for further verification by western blotting in another pool of serum samples from 15 Chinese early HCC patients with chronic HBV infection and 15 healthy controls.