IER3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: After merging the overall survival HRs of five data sets (GSE10143, GSE76427, GSE27150, TCGA, and in-house IHC), the total HR was 1.30 (95% CI [1.03–1.64]), indicating that high IER3 expression could be used as a pathogeny factor for overall survival of HCC (Fig. 2C).