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

Figure 5

Fibroblast-derived FERMT2 promotes M2 macrophage growth in vitro. (a) The bubble chart shows the Spearman correlation between FERMT2 expression and the abundance of immune cell infiltration. The color indicates the value, with red indicating smaller values. The bubble size indicates the degree of correlation, with larger bubbles indicating a stronger correlation. (b) Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) for FERMT2. The enriched gene sets in GO collection by the high FERMT2 expression samples. (c) Correlation of FERMT2 expression with M2 macrophage markers in TCGA-STAD. Spearman method was used. (d) Immunohistochemistry analysis shows FERMT2 and the M2 macrophage markers CD163 (upper part) and CD206 (lower part) expression in serial sections of human GC tissue (scale  μm). (e) Correlation between FERMT2 and CD163 (upper part) as well as CD206 (lower part) based on immunohistochemical -score calculation (Spearman method, ). Results are representative of 3 independent experiments unless stated otherwise. (f, g) The expressions of M2 markers with macrophages were examined by immunofluorescence (IF) after the treatment of the fibroblasts with NC and si-FERMT2 constructs (ANOVA) (Scale  μm). and .

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