Fig. 1: Clinical correlation of SLC13A3 with CTNNB1 in human HCC tissues.

a Heatmap of SLC13A3 mRNA levels with common gene mutations based on the analysis of TCGA-LIHC dataset. The mutation data was extracted from the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics (http://www.cbioportal.org). Heatmap was drawn using Complex heatmap analysis. b Relative SLC13A3 mRNA levels in CTNNB1 mutant HCC samples (n = 96 samples, blue), nontumoral tissues (NT) (n = 50 samples, red), and non-CTNNB1 mutant HCC samples (n = 275 samples, purple) were determined by analyzing RNA-seq data from TCGA-LIHC dataset. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA test. c Relative SLC13A3 mRNA levels in nontumoral tissues (NT) (n = 50 samples, red) as well as their paired CTNNB1 mutant (n = 13 samples, blue) and paired non-CTNNB1 mutant (n = 37 samples, purple) HCC samples were determined by analyzing RNA-seq data from TCGA-LIHC dataset. Statistical analysis was performed using two-tailed Student’s t-test. d Top 20 KEGG pathways enriched in SLC13A3 positively correlated and negatively correlated genes from TCGA-LIHC dataset were visualized by scatter plots. Statistical analysis was performed using the two-sided hypergeometric test. Relative pathways enriched by KEGG analyses were shown in vertical axis. Colors represented different -Log₁₀ (p value), and changed from green to red indicating increasingly significant enrichment. e Representative IHC staining images of SLC13A3 in three HCC cases with different location of β-catenin staining (Case #1, nuclear staining; Case #2, cytoplasmic staining; Case #3: membranous staining). Scale bar, 100 μm. f Pearson correlation test analyzing the relationship of SLC13A3 and β-catenin immunohistochemistry (IHC) scores. SLC13A3 and β-catenin protein levels were analyzed by IHC in HCC samples including 12 cases with cytoplasmic β-catenin expression and 11 cases with nuclear β-catenin expression. IHC analyses of β-catenin and SLC13A3 proteins were scored as follows: grade 0, score = 1–2; grade 1, weak expression, score = 3–4; grade 2, moderate expression, score = 5–6; and grade 3, intense expression, score = 7–8. g Log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test of overall survival from HCC patients with high (n = 23 samples, IHC scores > 3, blue) and low (n = 59 samples, gray) SLC13A3 protein levels. The log-rank test was used to compare overall survival between groups. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.