Fig. 1

SMAD2 is upregulated in HCC specimens and high expression of SMAD2 predicted poor prognosis. a Representative western blot bands of SMAD2 and SMAD3 in 75 pairs HCC clinic samples. GAPDH as loading control. b Quantification of SMAD2 bands intensity in liver tumor and non-tumorous tissues (left panel). Relative SMAD2 expression in HCC tissues by normalizing to their respective adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues (right panel). N, non-tumorous tissues. T, tumor tissues. c and d Kaplan-Meier analysis of the correlation between SMAD2 expression and overall survival in HCC patient cohorts by Kaplan Meier-plotter (c) or GEPIA (d) website. Data are shown as Mean ± SEM. **, p < 0.01