Fig 2: High-EOGT expression was associated with tumor staging, including TNM stage (A), grade (B), and stage (C). (D) Correlation of EOGT expression with PECAM1 (CD31). (E) Immunofluorescent staining of EOGT (red), CD31 (green), and DAPI (blue) in normal liver tissues, T1 stage HCC tissues, and T3 stage HCC tissues. (F) Immunofluorescent staining of EOGT (red) and DAPI (blue) in HCC tissue. (G) Quantification of EOGT-positive signal in normal liver tissues (n = 72), T1–2 stage HCC tissues (n = 41), and T3–4 stage HCC tissues (n = 26). Values represent mean ± SEM expressed as arbitrary units (AU) of EOGT-positive area normalized by total tumor area. (H) Quantification of EOGT normalized by CD31 (EOGT/CD31) in T1–2 stage HCC tissues (n = 41) and T3–4 stage HCC tissues (n = 26). (I) Quantification of CD31-positive signal in normal liver tissues (n = 72), T1–2 stage HCC tissues (n = 41), and T3–4 stage HCC tissues (n = 26). Values represent mean ± SEM expressed as arbitrary units (AU) of CD31-positive area normalized by total tumor area (*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001).

Fig 3: EGF domain-specific O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase (EOGT) expression in different types of tumor tissues and normal tissues. (A) RNA expression levels of EOGT in different types of tumor tissues and normal tissues in the Oncomine database (P-value < 0.01, fold change < 1.5, and gene ranking of all). (B) RNA expression levels of EOGT in different types of tumor tissues and normal tissues in the TIMER database. GEO database series including GSE6764 (C) and GSE64041 (D) and the Oncomine database sets including the Wurmbach liver (E), Roessler liver (F), Roessler liver 2 (G), and Mas liver (H). (I) RNA expression levels of EOGT between tumor and normal tissues in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples on the TCGA database. (J) Immunohistochemical staining of EOGT in normal liver tissues and HCC tissues (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001).

Fig 4: EOGT expression levels were analyzed in HCC patients with different TNM stages (A), grades (B), and stages (C). EOGT/CD31 were analyzed in HCC patients with different TNM stages (D), grades (E), and stages (F). Molecular characteristics of high- and low-EOGT expression subgroups; correlation analysis between EOGT expression and TMB. (G) Differences of EOGT expression between wild-type and TP53 mutated subgroup (H) or CTNNB1 mutated subgroup (I). (J) Significantly mutated genes in HCC samples. Mutated genes (rows, top 10) are ordered by mutation rate. The color coding indicates the mutation of each type. (K) Correlation analysis between EOGT expression and EOGT DNA methylation. (L) KM analysis of OS and RFS based on methylation levels of EOGT (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01).

Fig 5: Co-expression of EOGT and immune-related genes. Correlation between EOGT and MHC genes (A), Correlation between EOGT and immune activation genes (B), Correlation between EOGT and immunosuppresive genes (C), Correlation between EOGT and chemokines (D), Correlation between EOGT and chemokines receptor (E).