Fig. 4.

Correlation between USP28 and MAST1 expression in various cancers tissues. A Box plot showing difference between USP28 expression in tumor and normal tissues in LUSC, CESC, LIHC and ESCA cancer types. B Box plot showing difference between MAST1 expression in tumor and normal tissues in LUSC, CESC, LIHC and ESCA cancer types. The box plots (A-B) were generated using online bioinformatics tool GEPIA 2 (http://gepia2.cancer-pku.cn/#index). C A heat map showing mRNA expression levels of USP28 and MAST1 in different cancer cell lines derived from the CCLE database. Representative samples are arranged from high to low mRNA levels of USP28, and corresponding MAST1 values are sorted. D A scatterplot showing the expression correlation between USP28 and MAST1 mRNA levels in different cancer cell lines derived from the CCLE database. Pearson correlations (r) quantifying the relationship between USP28 and MAST1 are given. E Endogenous protein expression patterns of USP28 and MAST1 in different cancer and non-cancer cell lines were assessed by Western blotting. GAPDH was used as the loading control. F–H Representative immunohistochemical (IHC) staining images of endogenous USP28 and MAST1 in F human lung cancer (n = 27), G breast cancer (n = 18) and H colon cancer (n = 24) tissues. All IHC images were quantified with an H-score and difference in expression of MAST1 and USP28 in normal and tumor samples was represented graphically. Scale bar = 30 µm