To further elucidate the clinical significance of the identified the deubiquitinating regulatory role of USP22 on AR, we classified 159 HCC patients with HBV infection into four distinct subgroups (G-I, G-II, G-III, and G-IV) based on USP22 and AR protein abundance in the tumor tissues (Fig. 5d; refer to Methods for further details). This evidence concerns the gene AR and hepatocellular carcinoma.