Fig. 1

High concentration of LPS promoted the proliferation of ESCC. a ELISA was performed to detect the LPS concentration in normal esophageal epithelium tissues and ESCC. b Western blot was performed to detect the TLR4 expression in normal esophageal epithelium tissues and ESCC. c Western blot was performed to detect the TLR4 expression in normal esophageal epithelium cell line (HEEC) and ESCC cell lines (EC109, KYSE510, KYSE150 and TE-1). d IHC was applied to detect the location of TLR4 in ESCC. Typical images of two ESCC patients were presented. e CCK-8 was performed to assess the proliferation ability of ESCC cells with PBS or LPS stimulation. f colony-formation was performed to assess the proliferation ability of ESCC cells with PBS or LPS stimulation. g Tumor xenograft was applied to assess the proliferation ability of ESCC cells with PBS or LPS stimulation. PBS pretreatment group was implanted into the left posterior flank and LPS pretreatment group (8 μg/mL) was implanted into the right posterior flank of the same mouse. (ns: no significance, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001)