Typing of pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblasts identifies different subpopulations

Figure 8 miR-21 expression in pancreatic cancer. A: Semi-quantitative mean labelling scores of miR-21 in juxtatumoural cancer-associated fibroblasts (j-CAFs) = 2.2, peripheral cancer-associated fibroblasts (p-CAFs) = 0.8, lobular fibroblasts (l-FBs) = 1.0, and septal fibroblasts (s-FBs) = 1.1. miR-21 is expressed at significantly higher levels in j-CAFs than in p-CAFs, l-FBs and s-FBs. ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001; B: Moderate miR-21 expression in spindle-shaped cells in the juxtatumoural stroma (insert). Adenocarcinoma cells also expressed miR-21; C: Expression of miR-21 in the peripheral stroma was barely perceptible. Large nerves expressed miR-21 (arrow). Maspin-positive cancer cells are D: present in the juxtatumoural stroma; but E: not in the peripheral stroma. Strong α-smooth muscle actin expression in F: j-CAFs; and G: p-CAFs (scale bars, 500 μm). j-CAFs: Juxtatumoural cancer-associated fibroblasts; p-CAFs: Peripheral cancer-associated fibroblasts; l-FBs: Lobular fibroblasts; s-FBs: Septal fibroblasts.