Fig. 7

c-Myc negatively correlates with NS1-BP expression in ESCC. a Immunohistochemical staining of c-Myc in ESCC samples. Representative images showing higher expression of c-Myc in samples with low NS1-BP levels, and lower expression of c-Myc in samples with high NS1-BP levels. b c-Myc expression was inversely correlated with NS1-BP levels in 144 ESCC samples. The correlation was determined with linear regression lines and Pearson’s correlation significance (Pearson R = − 0.7989, **P < 0.01). c, d Upregulation of c-Myc was significantly associated with poor prognosis of ESCC patients. Kaplan–Meier plots show disease-specific survival in 98 ESCC patients in the training cohort (c) and 46 ESCC patients in the validation cohort (d) according to c-Myc expression levels in the primary tumor (P = 0.008 and 0.011, log-rank Table 1 Association between clinicopathologic factors and NS1-BP expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients