Univariate and multivariate analysis of clinical and molecular prognostic factors in terms of RFS
| Patients (%) | Univariate | Multivariate | |||
| HR (95% CI) | P values | HR (95% CI) | P values | ||
| Liver cirrhosis (present vs absent) | 106 (56) | 1.64 (1.00 to 2.69) | 0.049 | NS | |
| Microscopic vascular invasion (yes vs no) | 81 (44) | 1.87 (1.16 to 3.00) | 0.010 | 2.09 (1.14 to 3.83) | 0.017 |
| Aetiology (hepatitis C vs others) | 61 (32) | 1.70 (1.06 to 2.73) | 0.028 | NS | |
| Hepatocyte pERK (positive vs negative) | 20 (11) | 2.46 (1.36 to 4.44) | 0.003 | 2.41 (1.21 to 4.80) | 0.012 |
| pVEGFR2 (positive vs negative) | 54 (36) | 1.84 (1.09 to 3.09) | 0.022 | NS | |
| G3 (present vs absent) | 43 (31) | 1.73 (1.00 to 3.00) | 0.049 | NS | |
| MET (present vs absent) | 18 (13) | 2.28 (1.16 to 4.47) | 0.017 | NS | |
| Response to IFNα1 (present vs absent) | 24 (17) | 2.09 (1.13 to 3.87) | 0.019 | NS | |
The univariate analysis was conducted for 33 variables, including clinicopathological variables (liver cirrhosis, microscopic vascular invasion, aetiology, multinodularity, maximum tumour size (threshold 50 mm), tumour satellites, histological grade (3 vs 1–2)), molecular traits (hepatocyte pERK, endothelial pERK, nuclear pVEGFR2 and VEGFA) and 22 gene signatures (online supplementary table 10). In the multivariate analysis, only microscopic vascular invasion and hepatocyte pERK retained independent prognostic value.
IFN, interferon; NS, non-significant; RFS, recurrence-free survival; VEGFA, vascular endothelial growth factor A.