Fig. 5

Combination of Lenalidomide-5FU reduced mCRC proliferation index. a The combination of lenalidomide and 5FU significantly reduced Ki67 proliferation index in mice with mCRC tumorgraft (N = 6), compared to controls treated with 5FU (N = 5), Lenalidomide (N = 5) or vehicle (N = 6) (p = 0.0002 with one-way ANOVA analysis). The post analysis comparisons of each group to control vehicle was performed with Bonferroni post-test analysis (p < 0.001 for combination therapy). b Representative IHC picture of tumor Ki67 expression in each group of treatment. c Combination treatment showed effects similar to those observed with lenalidomide for both structural (pericyte coverage) and functional essays (blood perfusion). In the figure is reported a representative immunofluorescence picture showing blood perfusion (lectin in green) within residual tumor vessels (MECA 32 violet as endothelial marker, α-SMA in red for pericyte coverage) in mice treated with lenalidomide, vehicle control, 5-FU and combination treatment (Yellow/white color indicates merging of lectin/MECA32/α-SMA)