Fig. 3

CD133 expression was associated with age and prognosis of LARC patients. (a) and (b) Cut-off points for CD133 expression determined by the X-tile program. X-tile analysis divided the entire cohort into the training (shown in the upper-left quartile of A) and matched validation sets (shown on the bottom X-axis of A) based on patient survival data. The black dot in the validation set represents the exact cut-off value for CD133 expression. The entire cohort was divided into low (blue) and high (gray) NLR count groups based on the optimal cut-point, as is shown on a histogram of the entire cohort (b). (c) Kaplan–Meier curve of disease-free survival and (d) overall survival for the optimal cut-point of the CD133 expression. Representative figures of expression of CD133 in rectal cancer tissues (10 × 40), (e) Negative (−), (f) Weakly positive (+), (g) Positive (++), (h) Strongly positive (+++). (i) The CD133 expression scores in the young and old groups. (j) The correlation analysis of CD133 expression score and patient age. (k) The CD133 expression scores in the pCR and non-pCR groups. (l) Kaplan–Meier curve of disease-free survival and (m) overall survival for the young and old group