Fig. 7

High expression of HIF-1α is associated with high expression of c-Myc and PKM2 but low expression of p21 in NSCLC patients. a, Representative IHC images of TGF-β, HIF-1α, p-Smad2/3, PKM1/2, and p21 staining in lung adenocarcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma compared with normal lung tissue. Scale bars, 50 μm. b, Expression intensity distribution of TGF-β, HIF-1α, and PKM2 based on IHC staining in lung adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and adjacent tissues. IHC scores were divided into four levels according to IHC staining analyzed by ImageJ software. ****P < 0.0001; determined by the two-tailed Student’s t-test (95% confidence interval). c, Relationship between the expression of HIF-1α and TGF-β, c-Myc, PKM2, and p21 in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The table shows the number of cases, the percentage of positive staining cases in the corresponding group, and the statistical significance based on the Student’s t-test and Pearson correlation analysis. d, e, Based on TCGA data analysis, the expression of HIF-1α in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma was significantly higher than that in normal tissues (d) (*P < 0.05, by two-tailed t-test). HIF-1α also increased significantly with the development of lung cancer (e). f, g, Based on TCGA data analysis, the expression of HIF-1α was positively correlated with the expression of TGF-β (f) and c-Myc (g). h–k, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis revealed that the prognosis of patients with high expression of HIF-1α (h), Smad3 (i), and PKM (k) is worse; this was not reflected in patients with higher expression of TGF-β (j)