LGALS9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: With an optimal cutoff of 700 pg/ml, high circulating PD-L1 was associated with improved HCC-specific survival (HR 0.12, 95%CI 0.16–0.86, p = 0.011), and with a cutoff of 42 pg/ml high circulating Gal-9 was also associated with improved HCC-specific survival (HR 0.11, 95%CI 0.15–0.85, p = 0.010).