The combination of PTX3 with AFP, although slightly increased AUC values, did not significantly increase the performance of PTX3 for discriminating late-stage HCC from chronic hepatitis (AUC 0.965), cirrhosis (AUC 0.944) or chronic HBV infection without HCC (AUC 0.956, Fig. 3, Table S8). Here, PTX3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.