GSC expression correlates with poor survival and lung metastasis in HCC.

Immunohistochemistry assay was based on tissue microarray from 112 tumor tissues. (A) Patients with highly expressed GSC had a significantly worse 5-year survival (Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test). (B) Patients with highly expressed GSC had showed early relapse and poor relapse-free survival when compared to other subgroups (Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test). (C) Groups with highly expressed GSC had lower extra-hepatic metastasis-free survival than the group with lower expressed GSC (Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test). (D) Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of GSC expression for occurrence of lung metastasis showed areas under the curve (AUC) of >0.5 (P<0.05).