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. 2022 Sep 7;72(4):710–721. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-327913

Figure 2.

Figure 2

TCF21 in matrix–pericytes is positively associated with liver metastasis of CRC. (A) Heat map analysis of the regulon activities in distinct subsets of TPCs. (B) t-SNE visualisation of TCF21 regulon modulus in all TPC subsets. (C) Expression of TCF21 in matrix–pericytes derived from CRC patients with or without liver metastasis. (D) Immunofluorescence staining and quantification of TCF21+ TPC ratio in tumour sections from CRC patients with (n=34) or without (n=41) liver metastases. White arrows indicate TCF21 staining in TPCs. Scale bar, 20 µm. Each sample on the violin plots represents individual patient data. ***P<0.001 by two-tailed Mann-Whitney test. (E) Pearson’s correlation analysis of TCF21+ TPC ratio and MATN2+ matrix–pericyte ratio (n=75). (F) ROC curve analysis of TCF21+ TPC ratio in CRC patients (n=75). (G, H) Kaplan-Meier analysis of OS (G) or DFS (H) in CRC patients with high or low TCF21+ TPC ratio (based on the 44% cut-off, n=75). P<0.001 by log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. CRC, colorectal cancer; DAPI, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; DFS, disease-free survival; OS, overall survival; ROC, receiver operating characteristic; TPC, tumour pericyte; t-SNE, t-stochastic neighbour embedding; VWF, von willebrand factor.