Overexpression of FERM Domain Containing Kindlin 2 (FERMT2) in Fibroblasts Correlates with EMT and Immunosuppression in Gastric Cancer

Figure 3

Analysis of the relationship between FERMT2 and fibroblast activation. (a) Pseudotime trajectory of all the fibroblasts from cluster 8 to cluster 19. All the fibroblasts were colored by their assigned pseudotime values. (b) Jitter plots showing the expression level of the fibroblast activation markers and FERMT2 changing with pseudotime. (c) UMAP dimensionality reduction visualizes similarity of expression profiles of FERMT2 and fibroblast activation markers. (d) Correlation of the FERMT2 expression levels with fibroblast activation markers (ACTA2 and FAP) mRNA levels in GC tissues based on TCGA-STAD (Spearman method, ). (e, f) Interfering with FERMT2 expression in vitro inhibits fibroblast activation (scale  μm). One-way ANOVA was conducted. Asterisk represents value (, ). Data are representative of three experiments (). (g) Representative pictures of pathological hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of FERMT2 high- and low-expression samples (scale bars, 100 μm and 20 μm enlarged images). (h) Multiplex immunofluorescence staining images of FERMT2, ACTA2, and FAP in the GC tissue. The representative view of the costaining of FERMT2, ACTA2, and FAP is shown in the enlarged images view below. Scale bars, 100 μm and 20 μm enlarged images. Nuclei (DAPI) in blue.

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