Interestingly, subgroup analyses of paired PHCs and HCC-PHHs, which were obtained from resected HCC patient samples with associated clinical metadata, revealed a moderate inverse correlation between GPC3 expression and patient α-fetoprotein (AFP) serum levels (Table 1) in some cases, aligning with reports that GPC3 expression may be elevated in AFP-negative HCC patients [64] (Figure S3). Here, GPC3 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.