Fig. 4

H. pylori and CAFs induce Serpin E1 expression in gerbil stomach epithelium and human gastric cancer cells. A IHC assay shows positive staining for Serpin E1 in the gastric mucosa of Mongolian gerbils at the indicated times after H. pylori infection (n = 3). The gerbils inoculated intragastrically with brain heart infusion serve as the control. Scale bar = 100 μm. B Dot-plot graph shows the quantification of Serpin E1 staining using IHC Profiler from Image J software. IHC scores = intensity score × percentage score. Data are presented as means ± SD of nine randomly selected sections from three independent samples. ****P < 0.0001. C Western blot analysis for Serpin E1 in AGS cells infected with H. pylori. **P < 0.01. D IHC staining for Serpin E1 in gastric cancer cells co-cultured with CAFs for 3 days at a 1:1 ratio. CAFs cultured alone for 3 days serve as the positive control. Blue circles indicate positive-staining cells. Scale bar = 100 μm. E Western blot analysis for Serpin E1 in gastric cancer cells in the lower chamber after co-culture with CAFs in the upper chamber of the Transwell. The bar graph shows the quantification of Serpin E1 levels. Gastric cancer cells cultured alone serve as the controls. *P < 0.01, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 vs. control