Fig. 1: ZNF382 downregulation in ESCC due to frequent promoter CpG methylation.

a ZNF382 expression in primary ESCC (n = 15) and paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues (n = 15) by qRT-PCR. Mean ± SD, p < 0.001. b ZNF382 expression in representative ESCC cells compared with normal oesophageal tissues was assayed by RT-PCR. c Representative IHC for ZNF382 in ESCC tissues (right) and paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues (left). d ZNF382 expression in ESCC tissues (n = 40) and normal oesophageal tissues (n = 9) from online Gene Expression across Normal and Tumour Tissues (GENT) database (http://medical-genome.kribb.re.kr/GENT/search/search.php). e Kaplan–Meier cumulative survival curves of ZNF382 expression in oesophageal cancer patients are presented to explore the prognostic implication of ZNF382. Data were extracted from the Cancer Genome Analysis Database, and p value indicated statistical significance. f Restoration of ZNF382 expression with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (Aza) and trichostatin A (TSA) treatments in ESCC cells. Demethylation was measured by MSP. M methylated, U unmethylated. g Methylation status of ZNF382 in oesophageal cancer tissues (n = 188) and normal oesophagus tissues (n = 10) from human disease methylation database (http://www.biobigdata.com/diseasemeth/). h–l ZNF382 methylation in primary ESCC tissues (n = 114) and normal tissues (n = 3), measured by methylation-specific PCR (MSP). M methylated, U unmethylated