Fig. 7

Association between Elafin, activated AKT, Vimentin, and Sp1 in human HCC tissues. a Representative immunohistochemical staining images of pAKT, Vimentin, and Sp1 in different levels of Elafin expression HCC tissues. Scale bar, 100 μm. b Positive correlations between Elafin and Vimentin or Sp1 protein levels in HCC tissues based on IHC scores (SYSUCC cohort, n = 378). R and P value were measured using Pearson’s correlation test. c Positive correlations between Elafin and Vimentin or Sp1 mRNA expressions based on TCGA dataset (n = 371). R and P value were measured using Pearson’s correlation test. d and e Pearson’s correlation (d) and stacked bar graph (e) showed that Elafin expression was positively associated with pAKT expression based on IHC scores. * P < 0.05. f The combination of Elafin and pAKT increased the probability of a poor prognosis. OS and RFS curves for patients with combination Elafin with pAKT expression in SYSUCC cohort (n = 378) are depicted