Fig. 1

NCSTN is overexpressed in HCC and serves as a prognostic predictor. a Representative immunohistochemistry images of NCSTN expression in HCC and adjacent liver tissues. Scale bars: 25 μm (lower left and upper right corner), 200 μm (lower right corner). b Representative images of NCSTN expression obtained by western blotting analysis in HCC tumor tissues compared to matched non-tumor tissues. T, HCC tumor tissue; N, paired non-tumor tissue. Loading control was assessed by β-actin. c Representative images of NCSTN expression with different levels in HCC tumor tissues and paired non-tumor tissues. Scale bars, 100 μm (left), 25 μm (right). d Relative NCSTN protein expression in HCC patients with or without early recurrence. e Relative NCSTN mRNA expression in tumor tissues and non-tumor tissues. f Relative protein expression of NCSTN in HCC tumor cell lines obtained by western blotting analysis. g, h Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed correlation between NCSTN expression and overall survival or recurrence-free survival in HCC patients from West China Hospital dataset. i, j Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed correlation between NCSTN expression and overall survival or recurrence-free survival in HCC patients from TCGA dataset. k, l Multivariate analyses showed prognostic factors for overall survival and recurrence-free survival. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; TCGA, The Cancer Genome Atlas. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001