Fig 2: Immunohistochemical localization of ADAMTS-4 and ADAMTS-5 in healthy and in cancerous colon.Healthy colon tissue and cancerous colon of stage A, B, C and D, stained for ADAMTS-4 (A) and ADAMTS-5 (B). (A, magnification; x4, anatomic site; cecum, magnification; x10, anatomic site; cecum, magnification; x20, anatomic site; cecum, magnification; x4, anatomic site; rectum, magnification; x20, anatomic site; rectum and B, magnification; x4, anatomic site; cecum, magnification; x10, anatomic site; cecum, magnification; x20, anatomic site; cecum, magnification; x4, anatomic site; rectum, magnification; x10, anatomic site; rectum), stained for ADAMTS-5. Insets of A show the Mucosa and Submucosa layer on the healthy colon (magnification; x10) and the cytoplasmic localization of ADAMTS-4 in cancer cells of stage C and D (magnification; x20 and x40, respectively). Insets of B show the Mucosa and Submucosa layer on the healthy colon (magnification; x10) and the cytoplasmic localization of ADAMTS-5 in cancer cells of stage C (magnification; x20). Arrows in healthy colon show the expression of ADAMTS in the muscle tissue. Arrows in cancerous colon show the expression of ADAMTS in stroma, while arrowheads show the expression of ADAMTS in cancer cells.

Fig 3: MiR-23b targeted SPRY1 to aggravate IL-1β-induced chondrocyte apoptosis and ECM degradation. IL-1β-treated chondrocytes were transfected with in-miR-23b, in-miR-con, in-miR-23b + si-SPRY1, or in-miR-23b + si-con. In these transfected cells, A the expression of SPRY1 was measured by Western blot. B Cell apoptotic rate was analyzed by flow cytometry assay. C, D The expression of Aggrecan, COL2, MMP13, MMP3, and ADAMTS4 was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. *P < 0.05

Fig 4: Expression of ADAMTSs in healthy and cancerous colon tissues.Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of (A) ADAMTS-1, (C) ADAMTS-4, (E) ADAMTS-5 and (G) ADAMTS-20. Values are the mean GAPDH-normalized ± S.D. Protein distribution of (B) ADAMTS-1, (D) ADAMTS-4, (F) ADAMTS-5 and (H) ADAMTS-20. *P≤0.05; statistically significant differences compared to healthy tissues. **P≤0.05; statistically significant differences compared to stage A. ***P≤0.05; statistically significant differences compared to stage B. Healthy Cecum, Rectum and Sigmoid colon tissues are shown; A-C: Duke’s CRC stages. Arrows indicate the migration of molecular mass markers. PBS, GdnHCl and Triton are the sequential extracting solutions used (see text).

Fig 5: mRNA expression levels of Wnt-β-catenin-associated genes in healthy chondrocytes incubated with IL-1α in the absence or presence of SOST. mRNA expression levels of the Wnt-β-catenin-associated factors, β-catenin and LRP5/6 and the catabolic markers, RUNX-2, MMP-13 and ADAMTS-4,5 were increased, whereas the anabolic marker, COL2A1 was decreased following IL-1α treatment in healthy chondrocytes. These effects were inhibited by SOST (n=6). The increasing of ADAMTS-5 by IL-1α was inhibited by SOST, but has no difference with the control group after the decreasing. #P<0.05 vs. control; *P<0.05 vs. IL-1α. IL-1α, interleukin-1-α; SOST, sclerostin; LRP, low-density lipoprotein-related recepto; RUNX-2, runt-related transcription factor 2; MMP, matrix metalloproteinas; ADAMTS, a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motif; COL2A1, collagen type II alpha 1 chain.