Fig. 4
a Stromal beclin 1 expression and Ki-67 LI in cancer cells. Tumors with stromal beclin 1 expression revealed higher Ki-67 LI than those without the expression (p = 0.042 for hot spot Ki67 and p = 0.0075 for overall average Ki67). Data are shown in box-whisker with dot plots. Horizontal bars in the box-and-whisker plots indicate min–max and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quartiles. b Representative tissues with or without stromal beclin 1 expression. A tumor with stromal beclin 1 expression (upper panel) had higher Ki67 LI than a tumor without the expression (lower panel). Beclin 1 and Ki67 were stained in serial sections of two representative tissues. Scale bar = 100 μm