Fig. 2

Representative immunohistochemical staining of SLC39A6 in Kazakh ethnic. The negative controls for the normal tissues (a) and esophageal cancer (b) specimens (magnification ×100). Representative SLC39A6 immunostaining in non-tumor esophageal (c) and esophagus squamous cell carcinoma (d) tissues with weak, moderate, or strong expression (top panel magnification ×40; middle panel magnification ×100; bottom panels magnification ×200). e Boxplot shows that SLC39A6 expression levels in ESCC are significantly higher than that in normal esophageal squamous epithelium from Kazakh population (p < 0.001). f Expression levels of SLC39A6 proteins were determined in esophageal carcinoma cell lines (Eca109, EC9706, TE-1, and KYSE-150) and a normal esophageal epithelium cell line (HEEC) using western blotting