As shown in Table 1, expressions of MKP-4, ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were correlated with tumor differentiation (P < 0.001, P = 0.004 and P = 0.042), microvascular invasion (P = 0.006, P = 0.031 and P = 0.078) and TNM stage (P = 0.008, P = 0.013 and P = 0.014). This evidence concerns the gene MAPK3 and neoplasm.