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. 2013 Feb 13;8(2):e55794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055794

Figure 2. SnoN expression in esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Figure 2

A, Representative SnoN staining of esophageal cancer of various grades at 20X (top) or 40X (bottom) magnifications. Two grade III samples representing different levels of SnoN expression were shown. E: epithelium; S: stroma. Green: SnoN; blue, DAPI. B, SnoN staining in normal and tumor epithelial cells was quantified using the Image J software and the numbers were plotted in the box plot, which includes normal samples (n = 36, mean intensity = 1.13) and esophageal tumor samples of grade I (n = 8, mean = 0.07), II (n = 19, mean = 0.71), and III (n = 11, mean = 1.26). Statistical analysis comparing the normal controls to each tumor grade showed that the epithelial SnoN levels in esophageal adenocarcinoma are significantly weaker (grade I: p = 0.0002) or similar (grade II: p = 0.1425 and grade III: p = 0.3349) to that in the control normal samples. The increase in epithelial SnoN expression in grade III compared to grade I was statistically significant (p = 0.0013). C, Quantification of SnoN stromal staining in normal samples (n = 27, mean = 1.69) and esophageal tumor samples of grade I (n = 5, mean = 0.23), II (n = 19, mean = 1.09), and III (n = 11, mean = 1.78). The statistical analysis comparing the normal controls to each esophageal tumor grade is as follow: p = 0.0023 for grade I, p = 0.8565 for II, and p = 0.1132 for grade III. The increase in stromal SnoN expression in grade II (p = 0.0287) and grade III (p = 0.0068) tumors compared to grade I tumor stroma was statistically significant.