Fig. 1

Human colorectal cancer tissues - TCGA data analysis. A The NMU expression values extracted from the TCGA RNA sequencing dataset were compared among CRC tumours of different sites and normal tissues. B Ordered patient data were divided into low NMU expression and high NMU expression groups according to the median expression level, and survival rates were compared between the groups by Kaplan-Meier analysis. C NMU, D NMUR1 and E NMUR2 expression extracted from the TCGA RNA sequencing dataset was compared among CRC tumours of different grades (T1-T4) and normal tissues. F CDH1 and MMP1 expression was analysed in the groups with low NMUR2 and high NMUR2 levels according to the median expression level. G The table shows the invasion types detected in the group with high NMUR2 levels according to NMU mRNA abundance. For panels A and C–F, the boxes represent the interquartile range, the horizontal lines in the boxes represent the median, and the whiskers represent the minimum and maximum (*p ≤ 0.05, ***p ≤ 0.001, ****p ≤ 0.0001)