Figure 2. CAF and NF distinction and identification and immunohistochemistry was used to locate the positions of CAFs/NFs in colorectal cancer and normal tissues.

A. Vimentin was expressed in both CAFs and NFs. B. α-SMA was highly expressed in CAFs but was expressed at lower levels in NFs. C. FAP-α was only expressed in CAFs. α-SMA and FAP-α can be used as positive markers for CAFs. D. α-SMA was highly expressed in tumor interstitial tissue and showed lower expression in normal tissues. FAP-α was highly expressed in tumor tissues and rarely expressed in normal tissues.