Fig 2: Claudin-2 expression in human colorectal cancer tissue. a Representative image of tumor tissue without (upper image) and with high (lower image) claudin-2 expression in cancer cells. Note strong blue staining on pan-cytokeratin (red)-positive areas. b Expression of the claudin-2 in macrophages. Note dark-blue spots with irregular shape, frequently with a blank region in the centre (unstained nucleus). c Dot-like expression of the claudin-2 in cells with fibroblast-like morphology. d Expression of claudin-2, as determined by IF, in a fraction of cells within a primary CAF culture (passage 4). Note claudin-2 dot-like high-level expression in a cell marked “H” and low-level diffuse expression in a cell marked “L” (green) in fraction of CAFs. Red color used for the visualization of a-SMA

Fig 3: Associations between claudin-2 and progression-free survival (PFS). Kaplan–Meier graphs showing associations in the SPCRC cohort between PFS and claudin-2 expression in stromal cell/CAFs (a). Results from analyses of 5FU+oxaliplatin subgroup are shown in b. Results are shown separately for expression in central tumor (CT) (left panel) or invasive margin (IM) (right panel). HRs from Cox regression analyses, including confidence intervals, and p values are indicated for all analyses. Note, according to Bonferrony correction for the statistical significance, p value = 0.005 shall be considered as the threshold in the current illustration