Fig 2: CD68+ cells and RGC-32 expression were associated with the survival of colon cancer patients.a Kaplan-Meier survival curve revealing the overall survival of patients with low and high CD68. b Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed the correlation of overall survival and high or low RGC-32. c All patients were divided into three subgroups: RGC-32-CD68low, intermediate (RGC-32+CD68low/RGC-32-CD68high), RGC-32+CD68high. Overall survival rates of all patients after surgery were analyzed with Kaplan–Meier survival curves

Fig 3: HAE-hMDMs co-cultures infected with SARS-CoV-2. hMDMs were added to the HAE before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection. (A, B) Confocal images of HAE-hMDMs co-cultures and (C-E) controls. Co-cultures were fixed 72 h p. i. and stained for CD68 (red left panels), virus (green right panels), actin (magenta) and nuclei (blue). Corresponding orthogonal views are shown below each image. (F, G) graphs showing the quantification of viral replication in co-cultures, evaluated by RT-qPCR. Data were obtained from three independent experiments, each experiment was carried out in triplicate and means ± SEM is shown. (F) shows virus yields expressed as RNA copies per millilitre, (G) shows the log reduction value of viral RNA in HAE-hMDMs co-cultures calculated using the values of the infected HAEs without hMDMs as value zero. Groups were compared by the Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

Fig 4: Comparison of the basolateral and apical placement of hMDMs in hMDMs-HAE co-cultures. hMDMs-HAE co-cultures where hMDMs were placed both apically and in the basolateral side. (A) Confocal images showing the apical, basolateral and orthogonal view of the co-cultures. HAE-hMDMs co-cultures were fixed 72 hpi and stained for CD68, hMDMs marker (green), actin (red) and DAPI (blue). (B, C) Quantification of viral replication in co-cultures, evaluated by qPCR. (B) Shows virus yields expressed as RNA copies per milliliter in co-cultures where hMDMs were added before infection and (C) after infection. Data were obtained from three independent experiments, each experiment was carried out in triplicate and means ± SEM is shown. Groups were compared by the Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. *p < 0.05.

Fig 5: The CD68 and RGC-32 expression in colon cancer tissue.a CD68+ cell numbers in normal mucosa and tumoral stroma of 79 cases of primary colon cancer. b Representative images of RGC-32 expression in peritumoral and tumor tissue in colon cancer (small: 100×; large 400×). c The percentage of high-RGC-32 cases in normal and tumor samples. d A typical CD68 and RGC-32 expression in two consecutive sections (small: 100×; large 400×). e The percentage of samples with RGC-32+CD68+ macrophages and RGC-32-CD68+ macrophages in normal and tumor specimens. f The percentage of cases with RGC-32+CD68+ macrophages and RGC-32-CD68+ macrophages in the early stage and late stage group