Fig. 1

The expanded SDCSCs show enhanced stem cell property, chemoresistance, and tumor-initiating capacity. a Representative images of CT26 parental cells and SDCSCs. Scale bar = 100 μm. b Flow cytometry showing expression of Lgr5 (left panels) and CD133 (middle panels) and CD133(+)/CD44(+) (right panels) in CRC cells. The percentage of immunoreactivity positive cells are indicated. c RT-qPCR validation of expression of stemness genes (upper panel) and differentiation genes (lower panel). *P < .05, **P < .01, ***P < .001. d A histogram for showing sphere-forming capacity of CRC cells. **P < .01. e A histogram showing clonogenicity of CRC cells. Data represent mean ± S.D. **P < .01. f The scatter plots demonstrating viability of CRC cells under 5-FU (upper panel) and etoposide (lower panel) treatment. **P < .01, ***P < .001. g The orthotopic cecum tumorigenicity. Upper: a table summarizing tumor incidence. Lower: a representative image for successful grown tumors from CT26-SDCSCs. Arrow, growing tumors. h Tumor-initiating potentials. Upper: a table summarizing the tumorigenicity. Lower: the representative images for tumor grown. Scale bar = 1 cm