CD46 mRNA expression in peripheral WBCs in non-fast progressors and fast progressors and correlation with LMP7/β5 switch. (A) CD46 expression in WBCs in fast progressors and non-fast progressors (Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test P-value = 0.007). (B) LMP7/β5 switch and CD46 mRNA expression are oppositely correlated depending on fast progression status. The graph shows the opposite trends of correlation of CD46 and LMP7/β5 expressions in patients grouped by fast progression status. The fast progressor group shows a negative trend (Spearman ρ = −0.21), with overexpression of LMP7/β5 coupled with low CD46 expression and vice versa. The non-fast progressor group shows a positive correlation trend (Spearman ρ = 0.16). Both Spearman correlation tests result were non-significant. The expression values are log-transformed to avoid the graphical crushing effect of non-normally distributed values. The Spearman correlation test was operated on crude levels of expression to avoid a biased correlation index.