PTPN12 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Given this, an analysis linked circPTPN12 expression levels with clinicopathological data from 50 HCC patients, revealing a correlation between increased PTPN12 expression and smaller tumors size (p = 0.0235) and lower TNM stage(p = 0.0449) and Edmondson grade (p = 0.0277) (Table 1).