Fig. 2: SLC38A4 is downregulated in HCC tissues and negatively correlated with prognosis.

a SLC38A4 expression intensity in HCC tissues (n = 225) and noncancerous liver tissues (n = 220) according to the GSE14520 dataset. b Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of the correlation between SLC38A4 expression and overall survival of HCC patients according to the GSE14520 dataset. P = 0.0094 by log-rank test. c SLC38A4 expression intensity in HCC tissues (n = 81) and noncancerous liver tissues (n = 80) according to the GSE54236 dataset. d SLC38A4 expression intensity in 72 pairs of HCC tissues and noncancerous liver tissues according to the GSE39791 dataset. e SLC38A4 expression intensity in human normal liver tissues (n = 10), cirrhotic liver tissues (n = 13), low-grade dysplastic liver tissues (n = 10), high-grade dysplastic liver tissues (n = 7), very early HCC tissues (n = 8), early HCC tissues (n = 10), advanced HCC tissues (n = 7) and very advanced HCC tissues (n = 10) according to GSE6764 dataset. P < 0.0001 by Kruskal–Wallis test. f qRT-PCR analysis of SLC38A4 expression in 40 pairs of HCC tissues and adjacent noncancerous liver tissues. g Western blot analysis of SLC38A4 expression in four pairs of human HCC tissues (T) and nontumor liver tissues (N). h IHC staining of SLC38A4 in human tissue array including 70 pairs of HCC tissues and nontumor liver tissues. For a, c–f and h, data are shown as median with interquartile range. ****P < 0.0001 by Mann–Whitney test (a, c) or Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test (d, f, h).