Fig. 1

Loss of nuclear p21 is indicative of activin/pAkt activation, while nuclear p21 is associated with TGFβ/pERK activation in primary colon cancer tissues. In human colon cancer tissue, loss of nuclear p21 is associated with ACVR2A/pAkt expression while nuclear p21 is associated with TGFBR2/pERK expression. A total of 110 primary human colon cancer tissues were stained for ACVR2A/TGFBR2/p21/pERK/pAkt expression and pathway expression associations were determined. a Representative colon cancer tissues showing nuclear (p21/pERK) or cytosolic (TGFBR2/ACVR2A/pAkt) expression (upper panel) versus loss (lower panel). b Schematic of colon cancer signaling pathways based on signal component staining. Dominant pathways with p21 expression as diverging point drawn in red (p21 loss/ACVR2A+/pAkt + and p21 expression/TGFBR2+/pERK+, respectively). For statistical analysis, see Table 1