Fig 2: AXL is mainly expressed in TECs. (A) Heat map of the differentially expressed genes in the Affymetrix U133 plus 2.0 array. (B) AXL and CD31 expression in the ECs of HCC samples. (C) AXL+ ECs represent a subgroup of CD31 + ECs. (D) AXL expression in the vessels was present in 87.5% of the total samples. (E) AXL expression in the HCC cells was present in only 4.28% of the samples; AXL expression in both vessels and HCC cells was present in 8.22% of the samples. (F) AXL was expressed at higher levels in the TECs compared with the normal ECs.

Fig 3: Melanoma cells show reduced cell viability following combined inhibition of AXL and BRAF. (a) The level of AXL (detected by flow cytometry) in nine melanoma cell lines. (b, c) Cell viability of three AXLhigh melanoma cell lines treated with different concentrations, as indicated, of AXLi (b) or 2 µM BRAFi, 1 µM AXLi (for Melmet 1), 2 µM AXLi (for A375), 3 µM AXLi (for WM1366) or a combination of both drugs (c) for 24 or 72 h. The treatment effect was scored by CTG assay and presented as % relative to the respective non-treated controls set to 100%. Average ± SEM, n = 3. *p = 0.05; **p = 0.01; and ***p = 0.001.

Fig 4: The relationship of Tumor Budding with immunohistochemical Axl expression and the Cox Regression Analysis of their relationship: a: The histogram showing the distribution between tumor budding degree and axl immunohistochemical staining intensity, b: The Kaplan-Meier plot demonstrates the relationship between tumor budding level and negative Axl immunohistochemical staining, c: The Kaplan-Meier plot demonstrates the relationship between tumor budding level and focal positivity (2-10% staining) of Axl immunohistochemical staining. d: The Kaplan-Meier plot demonstrates the relationship between tumor budding level and common positivity (11-100% staining) of Axl immunohistochemical staining

Fig 5: Differential expression of Gas6 and Axl.a Images depict immunohistochemical staining using antibodies to Gas6 or Axl in normal (n = 9), DCIS (n = 12) and invasive ductal carcinoma (n = 100) from the same patients. Scale bar = 100 µm. b Graph shows quantitation of Gas6 or Axl staining represented by score (0–3) in normal, DCIS and invasive breast tissues. Error bars are SEM. c Tables represent Pearson’s coefficients, and the corresponding p value, between Gas6 mRNA, and Axl mRNA in METABRIC and TCGA data sets, using either all patients data or PAM50-classfied subtypes.