Fig. 1: RNA binding protein ESRP1 is downregulated in metastatic gastric cancer.

A Gene profile of the 2 datasets (GSE191139 and GSE206329) were analyzed according to primary tumor (non-metastatic) and metastatic tumor classification, the upregulated and downregulated top differential expression genes (DEGs) were shown in the heatmap. The color display corresponding expression abundance. B Volcano plot of upregulated and down-regulated DEGs, ESRP1 is labeled. C RNA binding proteins (RBPs) encoded by these DEGs were identified, the 11 RBPs upregulated in the non-metastatic gastric cancer were listed. D ESRP1 expression was compared between stomach adenocarcinoma patients with (M1) or without (M0) distant metastasis, using the TCGA data. Expression and metastasis data were downloaded from cBioPortal database. E Kaplan–Meier plot of gastric cancer patients. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the expression of ESRP1 and compared with log-rank test. F ESRP1 expression (normalized to GAPDH) in gastric cancer surgical specimens from 24 patients were detected through qPCR, and the scatter plot shows difference of ESRP1 expression between metastatic and non-metastatic gastric cancer. LNM, lymph node metastasis; non-LNM, no lymph node metastasis. G The scattergram shows a linear relationship between ESRP1 expression and lymph node ratio (LNR), and the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated. LNR was calculated by dividing the number of positive lymph nodes by the number of dissected lymph nodes. *P < 0.05.