Fig. 1

Expression and prognostic impact of IL-32 in human ESCC tissues with RNA and tissue microarray. A Normalized RNA microarray data of 84 paired ESCC tumor and peritumor tissues was used to analyze the mRNA expression of IL-32 (Paired one-tailed Student’s t-test, ***P < 0.001). B IL-32 mRNA levels were determined by qRT-PCR assay in 30 paired ESCC tumor and peritumor tissues from 84 paired ESCC patients (Paired one-tailed Student’s t-test, **P < 0.01). C-E Scatter plot of IL-32-fold change in tumor versus peritumor tissue was mapped according to pathological stage, tumor stage and lymph node metastasis (Student’s t-test, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). F Kaplan-Meier survival curves of high and low IL-32 expression (Fold change to peritumor) groups of patients with ESCC defined by the cutoff value of 1.41 were established on the normalized RNA microarray data. (Log-rank P = 0.0584). G Representative IHC images of IL-32 in ESCC tumor and paired peritumor tissues (Scale bar, 200 μm). IHC scores of IL-32 in 56 paired ESCC tumor and peritumor tissues were analyzed and mapped (Paired one-tailed Student’s t-test, **P < 0.01). H-J Scatter plot of IL-32 IHC scores in tumor tissues were mapped according to pathological stage, tumor stage and lymph node metastasis (n = 56, Student’s t-test, *P < 0.05). K Kaplan-Meier survival curves of high and low IL-32 expression groups of patients with ESCC defined by the cutoff value of 80.01 established on the tissue microarray data (Log-rank P = 0.0249). Data are represented as means ± SEM