Fig. 2

Lower SMAD1 expression is associated with improved OS following dexamethasone or bortezomib therapy. a, b Gene expression plots of SMAD1 (probe set 210993_s_at) in responders and non-responders based on Dex (n = 71) and BTZ (n = 162) treatment in the APEX trial. The red horizontal lines indicate the average value in the group and the standard deviation. p-value was calculated using a 2-tailed Mann-Whitney test. c, d GSEA plot supporting the downregulation of the genes in the KEGG pathway apoptosis in Dex and BTZ responders. e Correlation analysis of SMAD1 with NF-ΚB1expression in the patient dataset (GSE38627) presented as scatter plots. f Kaplan-Meier curves comparing OS of SMAD1 high (left) and low (right) expressing patients for Dex responder vs Dex non-responder arms in the APEX trial. g Comparing OS of SMAD1 high (left) and low (right) expression patients for BTZ responder vs BTZ non-responder arms in APEX trial. h Comparing PFS of SMAD1 high (left) and low (right) expressing patients for BTZ versus Dex arms in the APEX trial. Low and high expression is defined here as below and above the median. All p values were calculated with the Log-rank test