Fig. 8

The infiltration of MDSCs is positively correlated with the level of PKM2, PKM2 (p-Y105) and iNOS in patients with CRC. A The indicated gene expression in human CRC tissues (T, n = 275) and normal colon tissues (N, n = 349) from TCGA and GTEx datasets for COAD, analyzed by the GEPIA2 online analysis tool. B Correlation between Pkm expression and Glut1, Hk2, Ldha, Pdk1, Nos2, Ptgs2, Cybb expression in TCGA database for COAD analyzed by the GEPIA2. C Representative IHC images of PKM2, PKM2(p-Y105) and iNOS levels in human CRC tissues (n = 50) and adjacent nontumor tissues (n = 50). The scale bar represents 200 μm. D The percentages of PKM2-positive, PKM2(p-Y105)-positive and iNOS-positive cells were quantified. E-G The infiltration of CD11b⁺ myeloid cells and PKM2, PKM2(p-Y105) and iNOS levels of CD11b⁺ myeloid cells in human CRC tissues were determined by immunofluorescence assay. Scale bars, 50 μm. The results shown here are expressed as the mean ± SEM. Each panel is a representative experiment of at least three independent biological replicates. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. The following statistical analyses were performed: unpaired Student’s t-test