Fig. 1: P2X7R over-expression associates with reduced overall survival and metastasis in melanoma patients.

A expression of P2X7R in tumor and normal samples from TCGA database. Normalized expression of P2X7R, detected using RNA sequencing, was obtained from Firebrowse database. Tumor types were ordered according to log2 P2X7R expression. B overall survival of melanoma patients with low or high P2X7R expression (threshold 10,35). C representative image of weak immunohistochemical staining for P2X7R of a human melanoma sample. D representative image of strong immunohistochemical staining for P2X7R of a human metastatic melanoma specimen. E Percentage of metastatic (red, N = 14) and non-metastatic melanoma (blue, N = 25) samples with strong positivity for P2X7R p = 0.0283 exact Fishers’ test. F and G mRNA level of P2X7RA and P2X7RB evaluated in 77 cDNAs from melanoma patients subdivided in stage III (N = 27), stage IV with skin metastasis (N = 15), stage IV with lung metastasis (N = 10), and stage IV with metastasis in other distant organs (N = 14). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by Student’s t-test.