LGALS9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: When restricted to patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated HCC, galectin-9 expression-positive individuals were associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.029), Ki-67 proliferation index (p = 0.009), and poor prognosis [106], indicating that galectin-9 expression can be used as an independent prognostic marker for HBV-associated HCC.