Fig. 1

PTHLH is highly expressed in ICC tissues and cells. a Representative images of PTHLH, PTH1R and CK19 protein expression in ICC tumor tissues, paired adjacent tissues and normal tissues as assessed by immunohistochemistry (DAB staining, scale bar, 50 μm). b PTHLH protein expression was significantly increased in primary ICC tumors as compared with their adjacent and normal tissues (***p < 0.01). c, d Scores indicate PTHLH levels in ICC (DAB staining, scale bar, 50 μm). The scores were calculated by intensity and the percentage of stained cells as described in Additional file 1 (DAB staining, scale bar, 50 μm). e Immunofluorescence location. PTHLH was expressed in both nuclear and cytoplasm in ICC cell lines (HCCC-9810 and RBE) by immunofluorescence and fluorescent microscopy (scale bar, 50 μm)