Fig. 1

Decreased IL-37 expression is associated with poor prognosis in NSCLC patients. a The expression of IL-37 in 182 paired of NSCLC samples and their corresponding normal lung tissues was detected using qRT-PCR. b Western blot analysis of IL-37 expression in NSCLC samples (n = 97). Depicted are 4 individual pairs of NSCLC samples c. d IL-37 mRNA levels were positively correlated with its expression on protein levels. Each symbol represents an individual patient. The correlations were evaluated with Spearman’s non-parametric test. e Immunohistochemistry staining of human NSCLC sections using anti-IL-37 antibody (n = 182). a negative staining, and e strong staining in normal lung tissue; b weak (+), c moderate (++), d strong (+++) cytoplasmic staining in NSCLC tissues. Bar = 100 μm. f Kaplan-Meier curves of survival differences among NSCLC patients with high IL-37 expression (n = 76) and low IL-37 expression (n = 106) after surgery. P values were determined by the log-rank test. Data shown are mean ± SD. ^** P < 0.01, ^*** P < 0.001