Fig. 2

PSMD2 promotes the proliferation of ESCC. A The expression levels of PSMD2 mRNA in ESCC samples and normal controls. Sample sets were previously described [22]. B The expression levels of PSMD2 mRNA in ESCC samples and normal controls of the esophageal cancer dataset (ESCA) from TCGA database. C IHC staining of PSMD2 in tissue microarray consisting of 144 ESCC samples. Upper panel, representative IHC images, Scale bar: 600 μm (left images) and 100 μm (right images); lower panel, statistical analysis of the data. D Box plots of tissue array showing PSMD2 expression levels in early and advanced stages of ESCC. E Kaplan–Meier estimates of survival time of 144 ESCC patients by different PSMD2 expression levels in tumor tissues. The best-performing threshold was used as a cutoff. F, G Representative images of the xenograft tumors formed in NOD/scid mice inoculated with PSMD2 overexpressing KYSE30 cells (F) and KYSE450 cells (G). H-I Representative H&E and IHC images show the expression of PSMD2, ASS1, LC3 in tumors formed by KYSE30 cells with of PSMD2 overexpression (H) or PSMD2 knockdown (I). J PSMD2 overexpression significantly promoted the migration and invasion capabilities of ESCC cells. The left panels were representative images of ESCC cells in transwell assays and the right panels represent statistical analysis. N = 3. Data were presented as mean ± SD, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001