Fig. 11
The associated expression of NGF/TrkA/ERK/ELK1/ZEB1/miR-21-5p signaling in colon cancer tissues A. Western blot and qRT-PCR assays showed that the NGF expression in colon cancer tissues was higher in patients with T3 and T4 than that in patients with T1 and T2. T: T staging. B. The relationship between NGF and ZEB1 in colon cancer tissues in the TCGA cohort from GEPIA database. C. The relationship between NGF and ZEB1 in colon cancer tissues was analyzed by Pearson’s correlation. D. The expression level of NGF, p-ERK, p-ELK1, and ZEB1 was detected by IHC in the “miR-21-5pLOW” or “miR-21-5pHIGH” group. E, F. The chi-square test identified a positive correlation between miR-21-5p and NGF and ZEB1 in the colon cancer specimens. G. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that the colon cancer patients in the NGF-HIGH group had a shorter overall survival time. H. The schematic diagram demonstrated a reciprocal feedback between Schwann cells and colon cancer cells, thereby facilitating the proliferation and metastasis of colon cancer. All data were revealed as means ± standard deviation (SD) for no less than three independent experiments. Significant P values showed as ***P < 0.001. n.s means the difference was not significant