Fig. 3: Methionine metabolic reprogramming and serum MTA level predict HCC patient survival.

a Kaplan–Meier survival curves of patients with high versus low salvage-to-de novo ratio. The median value of the salvage-to-de novo ratio is used to divide patient into two groups and the P value is computed using a two-sided log-rank test. Heatmap attached to each cohort summarizes the intensity of salvage pathway and de novo pathway in individual HCC tumor. b The relationship of serum MTA level with the MTA level in matched tumor (right) and non-tumor (left) tissues. (n = 52) Serum MTA level is adjusted to corresponding serum methionine level for this and subsequent analysis. Correlation coefficient and P values are based on two-sided Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test. c Serum MTA level corresponding to tumor methionine metabolic status. Comparison of serum MTA was performed on patients with available serum metabolome data and methionine metabolic status was defined by the median value of tumor salvage-to-de novo ratio (n = 20 in low salvage-to-de novo group, n = 26 in high salvage-to-de novo group). The boxplots summarize the distribution of serum MTA level in tumors with high- or low- tumor salvage-to-de novo ratio. The minimum and maximum values are described by the extension of whiskers; the medium value is indicated by the middle line within box, and the 25th and 75th percentiles are indicated by the edges of box. Statistical significance is determined by two-sided independent t test. d Serum MTA predicts HCC patient survival. HCC patients from TIGER-LC cohorts (n = 51) and from LCI cohort (n = 102) are separated by median serum MTA level and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis are shown here with two-sided log-rank p value. (Supplementary Data 4). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.