Fig. 7
Overexpression of MEST and VCP are associated with poor prognosis in lung cancer patients. A Two representative immunohistochemistry (IHC) images of MEST expression in lung cancer tissues and in corresponding adjacent non-tumor lung tissues. Differences in MEST expression scores between lung cancer and corresponding adjacent non-tumor tissues are shown (n = 90). B Two representative IHC images of VCP expression in lung cancer tissues and in corresponding adjacent non-tumor lung tissues. Differences in VCP expression scores between lung cancer (n = 93) and non-cancerous tissues (n = 87) are shown. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of lung cancer patients according to the expression of MEST (C) and VCP (D) by using median expression level as the cut-off point for survival analyses. High MEST and VCP expressions are significantly associated with shorter survival (E), and statistical significance was calculated by log-rank test (P = 0.002). F The correlation between the immunostaining intensity of the proteins MEST and VCP was determined by Fisher exact test. G MEST and VCP are highly expressed in lung cancer tissues as compared with non-tumor tissues. Analysis of MEST and VCP expression by using the GEO database. Plots derived from gene expression data in GEO (GSE31210, GSE10072, GSE2514, and GSE7670) comparing the expression of MEST and VCP gene in normal lung and lung cancer tissues. H Kaplan–Meier survival curves based on GEO datasets (GSE14814 and GSE8894) show the overall survival of patients with either high or low MEST expression levels. I Kaplan–Meier plots based on GEO datasets indicated that MESThigh/VCPhigh (red) is associated with worse overall survival in lung cancer patients compared with other groups. Survival curves of patients with tumor MEST and VCP expression above the median (green) and patients with tumor MEST and VCP expression below the median (blue) are indicated. Higher MEST expression predicts shorter overall survival in two lung cancer-associated GEO databases (GSE31210, GSE13213)