Low tumor expression of PD-L1 (p < 0.001), Gal-9 (p = 0.009), HVEM (p = 0.004), and also low CD8+TIL count (p = 0.007) were significantly associated with shorter time to HCC recurrence, while tumor expression of IDO was not associated with recurrence after Bonferroni's correction (p = 0.029). Here, CD8A is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.