Nicotinic cholinergic receptors in esophagus: Early alteration during carcinogenesis and prognostic value

Table 4 Correlation matrices between the mRNA expression of CHRN subunits in healthy esophagus and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues

		CHRNA3	CHRNA5	CHRNA7	CHRNB4
Healthy esophagus	CHRNA3		P = 0.820	P = 0.203	P = 0.007a
	CHRNA5	r = -0.040		P = 0.727	P = 0.672
	CHRNA7	r = 0.220	r = 0.060		P = 0.193
	CHRNB4	r = 0.470	r = -0.079	r = 0.240
Normal surrounding mucosa	CHRNA3		P = 0.486	P = 0.753	P = 0.006a
	CHRNA5	r = 0.170		P = 0.847	P = 0.013a
	CHRNA7	r = -0.077	r = -0.038		P = 0.185
	CHRNB4	r = 0.607	r = 0.556	r = -0.318
Tumor Tissue	CHRNA3		P = 0.450	P = 0.026a	P = 0.016a
	CHRNA5	r = 0.184		P = 0.130	P = 0.071
	CHRNA7	r = 0.511	r = 0.293		P = 0.012a
	CHRNB4	r = 0.544	r = 0.423	r = 0.561

Matrices show the P values and correlation coefficients between the mRNA expression of the different CHRN subunits in the healthy esophagus, in the surrounding mucosa of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients and in ESCC.

^aP < 0.05.