Fig 1: Protein level validation and functional analysis of 4 genes in the IRGS. (A) Immunohistochemical results showed that SLC4A4 was downregulated in colon cancer tissues, and NMUR1, TIMP1, TACR3 were highly expressed in colon cancer tissues. Magnification: 10*20. Cell viability assays (B) and colony formation assays (C) showed that silencing SLC4A4 promoted the proliferation of HCT116 cells, and silencing NMUR1, TIMP1 and TACR3 inhibited the proliferation of HCT116 cells, data represent mean ± SD; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 (versus control group).