AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: The experiment also found that both PITX1 mRNA and protein expression in adjacent tissues, well-differentiated HCC tissues, and poor-differentiated HCC tissues decreased significantly in a stepwise manner, and the expression level of PITX1 in liver cancer tissue of patients with serum AFP > 400 μg/L was significantly lower than that in patients with AFP < 400 μg/L.