CTHRC1 and laryngotracheoesophageal cleft: We further statistically analyzed CTHRC1 messenger RNA (mRNA) abundance with real-time RT-PCR in six relevant groups of samples: normal liver (NL), liver cirrhosis (LC), GI (Edmondson-Steiner grade I), GII, GIII, and GIV HCCs (Figure 1B).