Fig. 1

PCA scores plot of NC subjects, HCV, and HCC patients. The PCA scores plot visually represents the distribution of control subjects, HCV, and HCC patients based on their profiles. The first principal component (PC1) accounts for 34.1% of the total variance, with control clusters predominantly located on the negative side of PC1. HCC and HCV clusters are observed on both positive and negative sides of PC1. The second principal component (PC2) explains 12.42% of the variance but was not utilized for group clustering in this analysis. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV, hepatitis C virus; Con, normal control