According to AFP levels (Table S5), PTX3 levels remained highly discriminative of AFP negative HCC from chronic hepatitis [AUC (95%CI) 0.956 (0.909–0.983), sensitivity 90.6%, specificity 91.2%, Fig. 2A], cirrhosis [AUC (95%CI) 0.933 (0.865–0.973), sensitivity 81.3%, specificity 95.6%, Fig. 2B] and chronic HBV infection without HCC [AUC (95%CI) 0.947 (0.908–0.973), sensitivity 90.6%, specificity 86.1%, Fig. 2C, Table S6]. This evidence concerns the gene PTX3 and hepatocellular carcinoma.