S100A4 over-expression underlies lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in colorectal cancer

Figure 2 Confirmation of the overexpression of S100A4 in colorectal cancer. A: Western blotting analysis for S100A4 expression in colorectal cancer (CRC) specimens. β-actin was used as the internal loading control. The histogram shows the relative expression levels of S100A4 in non-LNM (16 cases) and lymph node metastasis (LNM) (16 cases) groups. Data represent the mean ± SE (P < 0.001, Student t test); B: Immunohistochemical study of S100A4 distribution and expression in CRC specimens at 20 × 10 magnification. a: There was no immunoreactivity in the normal mucosa; b: Weak staining in cancer cells in the non-LNM group; c: Strong staining in cancer cells in the LNM group; d: Marked metastatic lymph nodes (arrow); C: mRNA level of S100A4 via real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. S100A4 was consistently increased in the LNM group (16 cases) compared with non-LNM group (16 cases). The mRNA level was normalized to that of β-actin. Data represent the mean ± SE (P < 0.001, Student t test).