Fig. 3

Kaplan-Meier survival function for the most significant SNPs in the multivariable analysis under the (a) mixture cure model and (b) Cox proportional hazards regression model. n: number of patients in that genotype category; d: number of metastasis in that genotype category. a rs5749032 was the only SNP maintaining genome-wide significance after the multivariable analysis using the mixture cure model. In the rs5749032 GG genotype subgroup, the clear plateau at approximately 80% metastasis-free survival probability indicates the existence of a large proportion of long-term metastasis-free survivors. b In the rs2327990 TT genotype subgroup, all the patients experienced metastasis within approximately the first two years. Therefore, a standard survival analysis method is appropriate