Fig. 1. The expression and clinical significance of ASPP2 in GBCs.

a Left panel, representative images of IHC staining of ASPP2 expression in 72 human GBC tissues and pair-matched normal gallbladder tissues. Scale bar, 100 μm (left) or 50 μm (right). Right panel, box plot showing the statistical analysis of ASPP2 expression in GBC samples. b IHC staining for detection of ASPP2 in 72 human GBC samples of different clinical stages (I, II, III, and IV) according to the seventh AJCC staging criteria (left) and scatter plot showing the ASPP2 expression level in each group (right). Scale bar, 50 μm. c, d ASPP2 protein and mRNA expression in representative GBC samples (T) and pair-matched normal tissues (N) evaluated by western blotting and qPCR, respectively (stage I-case8, stage II-case1, case4 and case6, stage III-case5 and case7, stage IV-case2 and case3). e Kaplan−Meier analysis showing the correlations between ASPP2 expression and the overall survival of patients with GBC, determined by Log-Rank test. ASPP2 low, n = 50; ASPP2 high, n = 22. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. Data are derived from three independent experiments and presented as means ± SDs