Figure 1
Decreased XDH mRNA expression levels predict poor prognosis in patients with HCC. (a) Analysis of human XDH mRNA levels in normal quiescent (n=10), dysplastic (n=17), cirrhotic (n=13), early (n=18) or advanced HCC (n=17) livers (clinical data set GSE6764;ref. 38). The horizontal lines indicate the mean±s.e.m. P-values were calculated by one-way ANOVA (Tukey's multiple comparison test). (b) Analysis of XDH mRNA levels in normal livers (n=50) and cancer livers (n=373) from TCGA LIHC patient samples (n=423). The horizontal lines indicate the mean±s.e.m. P-values were calculated by nonparametric Mann–Whitney U-tests. (c) XDH transcript levels in TCGA LIHC patient samples comprising tumors of different stages. P-values were calculated by unpaired t-tests. (d) XDH mRNA levels in TCGA LIHC patient samples with active adjacent hepatic tissue inflammation of different types and severities. P-values were calculated by nonparametric Mann–Whitney U-tests. (e) Kaplan–Meier survival plots of HCC patients stratified by XDH mRNA expression abundance. Log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test. (f) Analysis of the correlation between EMT scores and XDH mRNA expression levels in TCGA LIHC data set. Pearson’s coefficient analyses were performed to assess statistical significance. (g) Representative immunohistochemical staining for XDH in paraffin-embedded liver samples from patients with primary HCC (n=9). Scale bar, 50 μm. TCGA, the Cancer Genome Atlas; LIHC, liver hepatocellular carcinoma; XDH, xanthine dehydrogenase; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; mRNA, messenger RNA. EMT, epithelial-to mesenchymal transition. ns, not significant, *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, ****P<0.0001.
