Fig. 1

High expression of TCF7 in HLF tissues and cells. A The HLF was determined by MRI and histopathology. Measurement of the LF thickness by MRI; Representative images of H&E staining with elastic fibers stained crimson and collagen fibers stained pink; Representative images of Masson’s trichrome staining with elastic fibers stained red and collagen fibers stained blue. Scale bar = 100 μm. B Volcano plot of RNA-seq data. The vertical lines correspond to 2.0-fold increase and decrease, whereas the horizontal line represents a p-value of 0.05. C Heat maps show the expression levels of differential transcription factors in HLF tissues and non-HLF tissues. D KEGG pathway enriched by transcription factor was visualized by Cytoscape. E RT-qPCR showed that the mRNA expression of TCF7 in human HLF tissue was significantly higher than that in human non-HLF tissue (n = 15). F Representative images of TCF7 and β-catenin immunohistochemical staining of the non-HLF tissues and HLF tissues. Scale bar = 100 μm. G Spearman correlation analysis showed the TCF7 expression level exhibited markedly positive correlations with the LF thickness and fibrosis score in HLF tissues. I RT-qPCR showed that the TCF7 expression in HLF cells was significantly higher than that in non-HLF cells. LF, Ligamentum flavum; HLF, Hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum; non-HLF, Non-hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum. ^###P < 0.001