Figure 5
Functional analysis of prognostic genes UPB1, SOCS2, and RTN3 using TCGA dataset. (A) The expression pattern of UPB1 (left panel), SOCS2 (middle panel), and RTN3 (right panel) in 49 HCC tissues and paired adjacent non-tumor tissues from TCGA dataset. The Shapiro-Wilk test was applied to determine whether data followed a normal distribution. The paired t-test was applied to normally distributed data otherwise the Wilcoxon rank test for paired data was applied to assess the expression pattern in HCC tissues. UPB1 and SOCS2 were downregulated in HCC tissues, while RTN3 was upregulated. (B) Association of UPB1 (left panel), SOCS2 (middle panel), and RTN3 (right panel) expression with vascular invasion. Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test showed significant differences between vascular invasion group (n = 200) and no vascular invasion group (n = 105) of UPB1 and SOCS2 expression, but not RTN3. (C) Association of UPB1 (left panel), SOCS2 (middle panel), and RTN3 (right panel) expression with the histologic grade. 356 patients with histologic grade information (grade 1, n = 52; grade 2, n = 171; grade 3/4, n = 133) were recruited for the analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed a negative correlation between UPB1 and SOCS2 expression and histologic grade, while no significant differences was found in RTN3 expression in different groups. (D) Association of UPB1 (left panel), SOCS2 (middle panel), and RTN3 (right panel) expression with pathologic stage. 337 patients with pathologic grade information (stage 1, n = 167; stage 2, n = 82; stage 3/4, n = 88) were recruited for the analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed. UPB1 and SOCS2 were found to be associated with pathologic stage, while RTN3 was not.
