CD274 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In support of this in vitro observation, our in vivo study in the HCC mouse model found a negative correlation of WSX1 expression with PD-L1 levels (r = −0.7802, P = 0.0224) and AKT activation (r = −0.8662, P = 0.0054), as measured by the protein levels of WSX1, PD-L1, and p-AKTser473 (Fig. 7d).