Figure 5.

The localization of SMOC-2 (secreted, modular, matricellular, Ca²⁺-binding protein 2) in cultured CRC cells and in CRC tissue. (A) SMOC-2 is localized outside the cells at the tip of cellular protrusions (white arrowheads); (B) CRC tissue was strongly stained for SMOC-2 (black arrowheads) at the more invasive areas of the tumor, while normal colonic epithelium displayed SMOC-2 staining exclusively at the bottom of colonic crypts (black arrows), suggesting that SMOC-2 is expressed by colonic stem cells (modified from reference [51]).