Fig. 6
Clinical significance of liver stiffness and the molecules responsible for stiffness-induced EMT in HCC cohorts. a Integrin β1, Snail, and eIF4E phosphorylation were significantly overexpressed in clinical HCC tissues from higher liver stiffness group compared with those from normal liver stiffness group. N, normal liver stiffness; M, medium liver stiffness; H, high liver stiffness. b The levels of TGF β1 expression were markedly increased in higher liver stiffness group compared with that in normal liver stiffness group. c The levels of S100A11 in membrane subfractions were significantly increased in higher liver stiffness groups. d Integrin β1 or Snail was significantly overexpressed in the high-stiffness group (LOXhigh/Collagen Ihigh, n = 130) compared with the low-stiffness group (LOXlow/Collagen Ilow, n = 117) in TCGA-HCC cohort. e Analysis of the survival curve showed that high expression of LOX/Collage or integrin β1 was significantly associated with poor overall survival in TCGA-HCC patients