Figure 6.

NASH patients whose hepatocytes were strongly positive for pSmad3L and essentially negative for pSmad3C were more likely to develop HCC. (A) HCC was likely to occur among patients with NASH specimens strongly positive for pSmad3L. HCC also was significantly more likely in patients with abundant Smad3L phosphorylation (scores 3 to 4, solid line) than in those with sparse Smad3L phosphorylation (scores 0 to 2, dotted line). (B) HCC did not occur among patients with hepatocytes in NASH specimens strongly positive for pSmad3C. HCC incidence also was significantly higher in patients with sparse Smad3C phosphorylation (scores 0 to 2; dotted line) than in those with abundant Smad3C phosphorylation (scores 3 to 4; solid line). Occurrence rates were compared using Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank tests.