Fig 2: Clinical relevance of the OTUD3/ZFP36/VEGF-C axis.a qRT-PCR of VEGF-C and western blot analysis of OTUD3 and ZFP36 in primary esophageal tumors derived from six non-smokers and six heavy smokers. Each error bar represents the mean ± SD of three biological replicates. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA compared with non-smokers. Immunoblots in this figure are representative of three biological replicates. b Representative images of OTUD3, ZFP36, and VEGF-C IHC staining in esophageal cancer patient specimens (n = 228). Scale bars: 50 µm. c Correlation analysis showed that OTUD3 was significantly associated with the expression scores of ZFP36 and VEGF-C. Two-sided ?2 test and Cramer’s V were used to evaluate the correlation. d–f The patient specimens were divided into three groups, including OTUD3-low/VEGF-C-high, OTUD3-high/VEGF-C-low, and others. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and log-rank test were then used to test their significance in predicting RFS and OS of all (d), heavy-smoking (e), or non-smoking (f) esophageal cancer patients. The relative HRs between different signatures are indicated. Source data are provided as a Source data file.

Fig 3: mRNA levels of anti-inflammatory RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and their targets in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs), with or without LPS stimulation: mRNA expression levels of (A) ZC3H12A (Regnase-1 gene), (B) ZFP36 (TTP gene), (C) RC3H1 (Roquin-1 gene), (D) RC3H2 (Roquin-2 gene), (E) IL-6, (F) TNF-a, and (G) ICOS were determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR in PBMCs and PMNs from lupus nephritis (LN) patients (n = 9) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 9), stimulated or not with LPS, after normalization with GAPDH mRNA level. Data were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U-test. Each symbol represents an individual sample, and horizontal lines indicate median values with error bars of the standard error. p values = 0.05 represented statistical significance.

Fig 4: mRNA levels of anti-inflammatory RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs): mRNA expression levels of (A) ZC3H12A (Regnase-1 gene), (B) ZFP36 (TTP gene), (C) RC3H1 (Roquin-1 gene), and (D) RC3H2 (Roquin-2 gene) were determined by semi-quantitative reel time PCR in PBMCs from lupus nephritis (LN) patients (n = 9) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 9) after normalization with GAPDH mRNA level. Data were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U-test. Each symbol represents an individual sample, and horizontal lines indicate median values with error bars of the standard error. * p values = 0.05 represented statistical significance.

Fig 5: mRNA levels of anti-inflammatory RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs): mRNA expression levels of (A) ZC3H12A (Regnase-1 gene), (B) ZFP36 (TTP gene), (C) RC3H1 (Roquin-1 gene), and (D) RC3H2 (Roquin-2 gene) were determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR in PMNs from lupus nephritis (LN) patients (n = 9) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 9) after normalization with GAPDH mRNA level. Data were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U-test. Each symbol represents an individual sample, and horizontal lines indicate median values with error bars of the standard error. * p values = 0.05 represented statistical significance.