By ROC curve comparison, the diagnostic accuracy for HCC detection of PIVKA-II was significantly superior to the performance of AFP (∆AUC = 0.090, p = 0.044), GPC-3 (∆AUC = 0.094, p = 0.035) and IL-6 (∆AUC = 0.122, p = 0.009), while only a trend was observed for the comparison between PIVKA-II and adiponectin (∆AUC = 0.083, p = 0.075). Here, AFP is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.