Cancer-specific survival.

<p>The mean SPARC and FOXP3 expression in the primary tumour was measured and correlated with disease recurrence. The number of patients with or without disease recurrence at each time point is displayed below each graph. (<b>A</b>) <b><i>SPARC expression in stage II CRC</i></b><i>.</i> Patients without disease recurrence had significantly higher SPARC levels at all time point up to 60 months and for most points up to 138 months compared to those patients who suffered a disease recurrence. The overall SPARC expression was significantly different between the two groups (p<0.0001). (<b>B</b>) <b><i>SPARC expression in stage III CRC</i></b><i>.</i> SPARC expression was significantly higher in patients without disease recurrence from 84 months and beyond. SPARC was also significantly different between the two groups (p<0.0001). (<b>C</b>) <b><i>FOXP3 expression in stage II CRC</i></b><b>.</b> Higher FOXP3 levels was also significantly associated with less disease recurrence as with (<b>D</b>) <b><i>FOXP3 expression in stage III CRC</i></b><b>,</b> however, the differences were not as marked as in stage II CRC. FOXP3 expression was significantly different between the two groups in both stage II and III (p<0.0001). Each data point represented the mean SPARC or FOXP3 expression level at each time point. (*) p<0.05, (**) p<0.01.