Figure 8

Clinical correlation of NKX6.1 and E-cadherin or vimentin expression. (a) Representative results for NKX6.1 (upper), E-cadherin (middle) and vimentin (lower) immunohistochemical staining in samples representing a full spectrum of cervical cancer. Scale bar=200 μm. (b) Immunohistochemical staining data are expressed as the area percentage of positive staining of NKX6.1, E-cadherin and vimentin. The median for each group is indicated by a horizontal bar (*P<0.05, **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001, Mann–Whitney U-test). The details of grading are described in the Materials and methods section. (c) A proposed model of NKX6.1-suppressed EMT. NKX6.1 can bind to the promoter of E-cadherin and functions as an activator via its activating domain to interact with the coactivator BAF155. NKX6.1 also binds to the promoter of vimentin and functions as a repressor via its repression domain to interact with corepressor RBBP7. NKX6.1 is a bifunctional transcription factor in EMT regulation. A, activation domain; HD, homeodomain; R, repression domain.