Fig. 1

WNT4 was upregulated in CRC. a WNT4 expression level in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue (n = 45) and normal tissue (n = 24) from the Oncomine Database. b and c CRC patients with higher WNT4 expression had lower survival rate and higher recurrence rate from The Cancer Genome Atlas Colorectal (low WNT4 group, n = 71; high WNT4 group, n = 62) and Jorissen Colorectal 3 (low WNT4 group, n = 53; high WNT4 group, n = 59) respectively. High expression of WNT4 is defined as greater than the median value, and low expression is defined as less than or equal to the median value. d The serum level of WNT4 in CRC patients were higher than that in healthy donors, while it was decreased after radical surgery in 21/23 (91.30%) of CRC patients. e WNT4 levels secreted from per gram of CRC tissues and adjacent tissue after overnight culture. f, g and h The expression of WNT4 was significantly higher in CRC tissue compared to the adjacent tissue in immunohistochemistry and western blots. Upregulation was defined as WNT4 expression was higher in CRC tissues compared to that in paired normal tissues, while downregulation was defined as WNT4 expression was lower in CRC tissues compared to that in paired normal tissues. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. Two-tailed Student’s t test was used for statistical analyses. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01