Compared with patients with low levels of HK2, patients with high levels of HK2 showed more T stages from T3 to T4 (21.6% vs. 32.8%, P = 0.028), higher lymph node metastasis rate (28.6% vs. 39.7%, P = 0.041), lower hepatitis virus infection rate (26.7% vs. 47.8%, P = 0.00), and a higher probability of AFP > 400 ng/ml (17.3% vs. 18.1%, P = 0.000). Here, AFP is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.