Figure 2.

Association between CXCR4/7 expression and clinicopathological variables as well as overall and recurrence free survival. (A, B) Boxplots display the median IRS with the upper and lower quartile, as well as maximum and minimum for CXCR4 and CXCR7 in the primary tumour core grouped according to tumour size and UICC stage. CXCR4/7 expression levels were compared across groups employing the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. (C-F) For the overall and recurrence free survival analysis, patients were grouped according to their CXCR4/7 expression in their primary tumour cores into high ≥median and low <median and groups were compared using the log-rank (Mantel Cox) test. (G) The survival regression tree analysis displays subgroups of patients with very high risk of death. Each junction represents a decision point with an optimal cut-off value for the respective variable and the numbers under the vertical lines represent hazard ratios. IRS: immunoreactivity score; CXCR4/7: C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4/7; UICC: Union internationale contre le cancer; *p<0.05; **p<0.01).