Fig. 1

Interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family differentially expressed in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database of COAD/READ datasets. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) based on the expression of the members suggested that the colorectum and CRC could be well separated by the IRF family. B A Heat map showed IRF family members differentially expressed in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). C Significant differential expression of IRF3, IRF4, IRF7 and IRF9 were observed between CRC and paired normal cases, with receiver operating-characteristic (ROC) curves suggesting that the expression could help to distinguish tumor and normal tissues. D, F Representative immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining from the The Human Protein Atlas database for IRF3 and IRF7 in normal and tumor colorectal tissue were shown. E, G IHC analysis of cancer and para-cancerous tissues in 12 patients confirmed the IRF3 and IRF7 protein levels in CRC tissues, revealing that IRF3 was upregulated in CRC, whereas IRF7 did not meet significant statistical level. **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001