Fig. 3

Minimal prognostic 8-gene signature in HCC. a Forest plots depict Cox proportional hazards analysis on 45 signature genes in three HCC cohorts. Hazard ratios (HR) were denoted as dark blue circles and light blue bars represent 95% confidence interval. Eight genes are consistently prognostic across all three cohorts, thereby constituting the minimal prognostic signature. Significant Wald test P values were indicated in red. Signature genes were highlighted in red. b The 8-gene signature successfully identified high-risk patients in different TNM stages. Kaplan–Meier plots of overall survival in HCC patients across three cohorts stratified by 8-gene signature into low and high-risk groups. Patients were stratified by the signature as a full cohort, or sub-grouped according to TNM stages. P-values were calculated from the log-rank test. Plots show independence of signature over current staging systems. c Analysis of specificity and sensitivity of the signature in HCC cohorts with ROC. Plots depict comparison of ROC curves of signature and clinical tumor staging parameters. AUC: area under the curve. TNM tumor, node, metastasis staging. d Kaplan–Meier plots depicting combined relation of TP53 or CTNNB1 mutation status with the 8-gene signature on overall survival in HCC