Fig. 6.

Elevated TAZ and SOX2 associates with aggressive clinicopathological features and unfavorable patients’ prognosis in HNSCC. a, b The mRNA expression levels of TAZ mRNA a and SOX2 mRNA b were measured in 73 fresh primary HNSCC samples and paired adjacent non-tumor tissue via qRT-PCR assay. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, paired t-test. c The correlation between TAZ mRNA and SOX2 mRNA in 73 primary HNSCC samples was estimated by using Pearson’s correlation. d, e The expression levels of TAZ protein and SOX2 protein were measured in 24 fresh HNSCC samples and paired adjacent non-tumor tissue via western blot assay d. Their correlation was estimated by using Pearson’s correlation e. f Representative immunohistochemical staining of TAZ and SOX2 in primary HNSCC and adjacent non-tumor tissue was shown. Scale bar: 100 μm. g The association between TAZ and SOX2 abundance in 76 primary HNSCC samples was estimated via Chi-square test. h Overall survival analyses of patients stratified based on combinational TAZ and SOX2 abundance in HNSCC were estimated by Kaplan–Meier method and compared with log-rank test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01