Microenvironmental CTHRC1 has a pro-tumorigenic role in colorectal cancer (IMAGE)
Caption
Figure 4: Histological staining reveals Cthrc1 KO alters tumor microarchitecture and cellularity.
Histological sections of mouse tumors from the endpoint study are shown. Tumors from WT and Cthrc1 KO mice at Day 14 post-inoculation were stained with Trichrome (top) and Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E; bottom). Representative tumors from (A) WT and (B) Cthrc1 KO mice are shown at 40X (left) and 400X (right) magnification. Scale bar, 200 μm. Tumor cellularity per histological sample was scored using a Likert scale as described in Methods and are shown as (C) violin and (D) histogram plots (n = 18 WT, n = 19 Cthrc1 KO). Because the sample size is small and the scores are not normally distributed, differences in cellularity between WT and Cthrc1 KO tumor samples were assessed using a Mann-Whitney U-test. Vli55 immunohistochemical staining of tumor sections at 200X and 400X magnification for (E, F) WT and (G) Cthrc1 KO mice shows the fibrous capsule and tumor tissue, with positive staining for CTHRC1 only in WT tumors. (H) A stained regressed tumor from a Cthrc1 KO mouse shows residual matrix, few fibroblasts, and no CTHRC1. Scale bar, 200 μm. CD31 immunostaining of tumor sections at 200X magnification shows positive vessel-like structures in stroma and tumors of both (I, J) WT and (K, L) Cthrc1 KO mice. Positive staining (dark brown) is marked by arrows.
Credit
Copyright: © 2026 Duval et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Usage Restrictions
With credit to the original source.
License
Original content