Table 1. Summary of PRL-3 and pSTAT3 expression in colon cancer samples and normal colon tissues detected by IHC.

	PRL				pSTAT3
	−	+	++	+++	−	+	++	+++
Normal colon tissue	4	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Primary tumour	11	2	0	0	13	0	0	0
Lymph node metastasis	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	0
Liver metastasis	1	1	3	3	1	4	3	0

+, <10% of tumour cells positive; ++, 10–50% of tumour cells positive; and +++, >50% of tumour cells positive, with strong staining intensity.