Fig. 2

NEURL3 is downregulated and associated with poor prognosis in NPC. (a) Relative mRNA levels of NEURL3 in NPC cell lines and nasopharyngeal epithelial cell line NP69. (b) Relative protein levels of NEURL3 in NPC cell lines and nasopharyngeal epithelial cell line NP69. (c) Relative NEURL3 mRNA levels measured by RT-qPCR analysis in NPC (n = 10) and normal (n = 10) tissues. Data of a and c are shown as mean ± SD, and the p-values were determined by Student’s t-test (*p < 0.05). (d) Western blot analysis of NEURL3 protein expression in NPC (n = 5) and normal (n = 5) tissues. (e) Representative images displaying the NEURL3 protein levels in NPC and adjacent normal tissue determined by IHC staining. (f) Representative images displaying the NEURL3 protein levels in 212 NPC tissues determined by IHC staining, and the staining intensity was categorized as negative, weak, moderate, or strong stain (Scale bar, 100 μm or 20 μm). (g) The correlation between NEURL3 expression and posttreatment distant metastasis status. The p-value was determined by Chi-square test. (h-j) Kaplan-Meier curves were generated to evaluate relapse-free survival (h), distant metastasis-free survival (i), and overall survival (j) according to NEURL3 protein level. The p-values were determined by log-rank test. (k-m) Forest plots of multivariate Cox regression analyses were generated to show the significance of different clinical prognostic factors in NPC relapse-free survival (k), distant metastasis-free survival (l), and overall survival (m)