Fig. 4

Fn induces chemoresistance of CRC cells in response to 5-Fu in vivo. a After the 2-week treatment, mice under different conditions were sacrificed and the tumors were collected and photographed. b Tumor sizes were measured every 3 days and tumor growth curves were established. Data are presented as tumor volume (mean ± s.d.; ***p < 0.001 by nonparametric Mann-Whitney test). c Immunohistochemical staining was carried out to detect the proteins expression levels of TLR4 and BIRC3, and a TUNEL assay was performed to detect tumor cell apoptosis in xenograft tumor tissues. d Integrated optical density (IOD) values were obtained using Image-Pro Plus software (Media Cybernetics, Rockville, MD, USA) and used to quantify the protein expression levels of TLR4 and BIRC3. Data are presented as IOD values. (mean ± s.d.; ***p < 0.001 by nonparametric Mann-Whitney test). As for TUNEL assay, data are presented as the percentage of TUNEL- positive cells per high-power field of the various tumor sections. (mean ± s.d.; ***p < 0.001 by nonparametric Mann-Whitney test)