Fig. 1

PI3K-Akt pathways and HDACs are upregulated in ESCC patients and cell lines. The expressions of HDACs, p-Akt/Akt, and p-mTOR/mTOR were tested in ESCC patients or cell lines. a The different expressions of mRNA levels related to HDACs in normal esophageal tissues and esophageal cancers from TCGA databases were compared in pairs. b Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining methods detected the protein levels of HDAC2, phosphorylation of Akt, and mTOR in normal esophageal tissues and esophageal cancers. Scale bar: 20 μm and 100 μm. c, d Western blot analysis of HDACs, p-Akt/Akt and p-mTOR/mTOR in different ESCC cell lines. e Statistical analysis of upregulated proteins of ESCC cells vs. normal esophageal epithelial (Het-1A) cells by western blot. Error bars are ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001