Fig. 1.

High expression of BMP9 is associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. (A) Representative IHC staining images of BMP9‐high tumor (upper panel) and BMP9‐low tumor (lower panel) in surgically resected HCC tissue specimens. T, tumor tissue; NT, nontumor tissue. Scale bar = 200 μm. (B) Kaplan–Meier survival curves according to BMP9 expression in HCC tissue specimens (cohort 1, n = 54). BMP9‐high (n = 38), BMP9‐low (n = 16). (C) Kaplan–Meier survival curves according to BMP9 expression in the serum of HCC patients (cohort 2, n = 37). BMP9 > 600 pg·mL⁻¹ (n = 18), BMP9 ≤ 600 pg·mL⁻¹ (n = 19). Survival curves of two groups were compared using the log‐rank test. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]