SNORD78 expression in NSCLC cell lines, cancer tissues and its clinical significance. (a) qRT-PCR analysis of SNORD78 expression levels in NSCLC cell lines (A549, SK-MES-1, SPC-A1 and NCI-H1975) compared with the normal bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE). (b) Difference in expression levels of SNORD78 between non-small cell lung cancer tissues and matched non-tumor NSCLC tissues. The expression of SNORD78 was normalized to β-actin. The statistical differences between samples were analyzed with paired samples t-test (n = 56, p < 0.0001). (c) There were no significant differences in expression levels of SNORD78 between adenocarcinoma tissues and squamous cell carcinoma tissues. The expression of SNORD78 was normalized to β-actin. The statistical differences between samples were analyzed with paired samples t-test (p = 0.9577). (d) Negative staining of SNORD78 in adjacent non-neoplasmic lung parenchyma. Positive mainly nuclear expression of SNORD78 in representative cases of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. (magnification × 400) (e) Patients with high levels of SNORD78 expression showed reduced overall survival times compared with patients with low levels of SNORD78 expression (p =0.0113, log-rank test). *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01. (f) Multivariate analysis of HRs for OS is shown. HRs are presented as the means (95 % CI)