Fig. 1

Immunostaining of METTL3 in human ccRCC tissues and its correlation with HHLA2 expression. A Higher METTL3 expression was found in human ccRCC tissue and predominantly localized in the nucleus of cancer cells, and in the serial section of ccRCC tissue, higher expression of HHLA2 was also found and predominantly localized in the cytoplasm of cancer cells (scale bar = 200 µm or 50 µm). B Lower expression of METTL3 was found in human ccRCC tissue, and in the serial section of ccRCC tissue, lower expression of HHLA2 was also found (scale bar = 200 µm or 50 µm). C The expression of METTL3 in ccRCC tissues was significantly higher compared with the adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.0001). D The OS of the patients with low expression of METTL3 was significantly better compared with the patients with its high expression (P = 0.0133, HR: 2.379, 95% CI 1.221 to 5.258). E The expression of METTL3 in ccRCC tissues was significantly correlated with the HHLA2 expression (r = 0.2373, P = 0.0298). F The OS of the HHLA2^lowMETTL3^low patients was significantly better compared with the HHLA2^highMETTL3^high patients (P = 0.0001), and the OS of the HHLA2^lowMETTL3^low patients trended better than the HHLA2^lowMETTL3^high patients (P = 0.0868). Paired t test, Log-rank survival analysis and Spearman correlation analyses were used respectively