AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: In examining the combinations of these biomarkers, the diagnosis of early-stage HCV-induced HCC (BCLC stage 0 + A) was significantly better using the combination of AFP + PIVKA-II (AUC 0.914 [0.870–0.947]) when compared with the combination of AFP + AFP-L3 (AUC 0.708 [0.644–0.766], p < 0.001) or the combination of PIVKA-II + AFP-L3 (AUC 0.883 [0.834–0.921], p = 0.095).