Fig. 1

Colon tumor formation in CX3CR1 wild-type (WT) and CX3CR1-deficient mice after azoxymethane/dextran sodium sulfate (AOM/DSS) treatment. (a) Treatment scheme of the AOM/DSS model. (b) The disease activity index (DAI) score was monitored three times per week during the experimental period in AOM/DSS-treated CX3CR1^gfp/+ (WT) mice and CX3CR1^gfp/gfp (knockout [KO]) mice (n = 10/group). (c) Macroscopic view of the colonic lumen. Tumors developed in the distal to middle colon. (d) Representative hematoxylin and eosin-stained images of paraffin-embedded colon sections obtained from AOM/DSS-treated CX3CR1 WT and CX3CR1 KO mice. Scale bars, 200 μm. (e) Number of neoplasms and size of the largest neoplasm, as measured 20 weeks after AOM injection, in AOM/DSS-treated CX3CR1 WT and CX3CR1 KO mice (n = 10/group). *P < 0.05 and ****P < 0.0001 by an unpaired Student’s t-test. (f, g) Number of neoplasms and size of the largest neoplasm, as measured 20 weeks after AOM injection, in AOM/DSS-treated bone marrow chimeric mice, which were generated as described in the Materials and Methods (n = 10/group). **P < 0.01 by an unpaired Student’s t-test. Data are presented as the mean ± SD.