Although addition of AFP to the TA-AAb panel led to a significant association of sensitivity with increasing stage, sensitivity for stage 1 and 2 (early stage) HCC was significantly higher, at 45.45%, for the combined test than either the TA-AAb panel, at 32.72%, (p = 0.0082) or AFP, at 23.63%, (p = 0.0005) alone. The gene discussed is AFP; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.