Next, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis illustrated that patients in the high expression of SMS group had remarkably shorter overall survival [OS, n=370, HR=2.090(1.477-2.960), log-rank P<0.001], disease-specific survival [DSS, n=362, HR=1.846(1.180-2.887), log-rank P=0.0056] and progression free survival [PFS, n=370, HR=1.436(1.070-1.928), log-rank P=0.0145] contrast to the low expression of SMS group in HCC (Figure 3A). Here, SMS is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.