Correlation between HHLA2 expression and baseline clinicopathological features in the training and validation cohort with ICC

Characteristics	Training cohort (n = 153)					Validation cohort (n = 65)
	Patients		HHLA2 expression			Patients		HHLA2 expression
	NO.	%	Low	High	P-value	NO.	%	Low	High	P-value
All patients	153	100.0	78	75		65	100.0	21	44
Age					0.805					0.601
≤ 60	78	51.0	39	39		31	47.7	11	20
> 60	75	49.0	39	36		34	52.3	10	24
Liver cirrhosis					0.199					0.486
Absent	131	85.6	64	67		56	86.2	19	37
Present	22	14.4	14	8		9	13.8	2	7
ALBI grade					0.468					0.194
1	122	79.7	64	58		39	60.0	15	24
2	31	20.3	14	17		26	40.0	6	20
Tumor size					0.594					0.575
≤ 5 cm	64	41.8	31	33		37	56.9	13	24
> 5 cm	89	58.2	47	42		28	43.1	8	20
Tumor differentiation					0.833					0.368
I - II	126	82.4	65	61		30	46.2	8	22
III - IV	27	17.6	13	14		35	53.8	13	22
Tumor number					0.885					0.894
Single	113	73.9	58	55		52	80.0	17	35
Multiple	40	26.1	20	20		13	20.0	4	9
MVI					0.066					0.119
Absent	116	75.8	64	52		53	81.5	19	34
Present	37	24.2	14	23		12	18.5	2	10
LN metastasis					0.071					0.013
Absent	134	87.6	72	62		35	53.8	16	19
Present	19	12.4	6	13		30	46.2	5	25
CA19–9a					< 0.001					0.078
≤ 37 U/L	69	46.3	46	23		30	46.2	13	17
> 37 U/L	80	53.7	30	50		35	53.8	8	27
CEAa					< 0.001					0.001
≤ 5 ng/ml	121	81.2	72	49		36	55.4	18	18
> 5 ng/ml	28	18.8	4	24		29	44.6	3	26
AJCC 8th					0.053					0.024
I-II	122	79.7	67	55		19	29.2	10	9
IIIa-IIIb	31	20.3	11	20		46	70.8	11	35

Abbreviations: ALBI albumin-bilirubin, MVI microvascular invasion, LN lymph node, CEA carcinoembryonic antigen, AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer; P-value < 0.05 marked in bold font shows statistical significant. ^aFor 4 patients of the training cohort, the data of CA19–9 and CEA were not available