ADAMTS1 expression in CAF correlated with lymph node metastasis.

<p>(A) A scatter dot plot of ADAMTS1 mRNA levels in CAFs assessed using quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis. The ADAMTS1 mRNA levels in CAFs of patients with lymph node metastasis (n = 27) were significantly higher than in those of patients without lymph node metastasis (n = 22) (P = 0.0003). Data are shown as mean ± SD of triplicate samples. Statistical significance was evaluated by Student's t-test. *** P<0.001. (B) The relationship between ADAMTS1 expression and lymph node metastasis was analyzed using Fisher's exact test. ADAMTS1 expression levels in CAFs derived from patients with ≥60% lymph node metastasis were significantly higher than those of patients with ≤60% lymph node metastasis or with zero lymph node metastasis (<i>P</i> = 0.001). Relative quantity (RQ) of ADAMTS1 expression compared to beta-actin expression: +, 0.001≤RQ≤0.025; ++, 0.025