HOXA9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Because APC methylation completely overlapped with RASSF1A methylation, the AUCs of serum RASSF1A methylation (0.718), BVES methylation (0.636), AFP (≥20 ng/l) (0.609), and HOXA9 methylation (0.521) indicated that these metrics were the top 4 indicators for distinguishing between HCC and CHB.