Fig. 1.

Aberrant activation of mTOR signalling synergizes with DNA methylation to promote tumour progression in HCC patients. A Representative IHC images demonstrate low (left) and high (right) scores for p-mTOR (above) and 5mC (under) in tumoral regions, the low or high images of p-mTOR and 5mC were derived from the same patient. Scale bar = 100 μm. B Linear correlation between p-mTOR IHC scores and 5mC IHC scores. Correlations were analysed by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test. C–E Cumulative overall survival curves of HCC patients based on p-mTOR and 5mC. F–H Recurrence-free survival curves of HCC patients based on p-mTOR and 5mC. Overall survival and recurrence-free survival were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared using the log‒rank test. The patients were divided into two groups according to the median IHC score of p-mTOR and 5mC. **P < 0.01. T, intra-tumoral region; lo, low; hi, high