The strial basal cells, spiral ligament fibrocytes, and spiral ganglion cells exhibited mild staining for CD68 (Fig. 1d, f).
The SIMCs and SBCs showed mild staining for TNFR2 (F), while the SLFs, SGCs, HCs, PCs, and DCs showed extremely weak staining for TNFR2 (F, L, and R).
The strial basal cells and spiral ligament fibrocytes demonstrated mild staining for TLR4 (Fig. 2d), while the spiral ganglion cells and hair cells, pillar cells, and Deiters' cells of Corti's organ exhibited extremely weak staining for TLR4 (Fig. 2f, h).
The strial intermediate cells, strial basal cells, spiral ganglion cells, outer hair cells, and outer pillar cells demonstrated mild staining for MCP1 (Fig. 3d, f, h), while the spiral ligament fibrocytes displayed extremely weak staining for MCP1 (Fig. 3d).
The strial intermediate cells (SIMCs), SBCs, and SGCs exhibited mild staining for TNFR1 (D and J), while the SLFs, hair cells (HCs), pillar cells (PCs), and DCs displayed extremely weak staining for TNFR1 (D and P).
The SBCs, SGCs, and inner pillar cells (IPCs) of CO exhibited intensive staining for RNF11, while the SLFs, hair cells (HCs), and outer pillar cells (OPCs) displayed mild staining for RNF11 (h, l, p).
For quantification, the representative field was randomly selected by a third person, and one thousand cells were counted for heavy staining (> 80%), moderate staining (40 80%), mild staining (5 40%), or no staining (< 5%).
There was no apparent staining for sFRP1 in five of the adenomas and a further five adenomas showed only mild staining (up to 10% of the tumour cells stained) (Table 1).
The dimension of VEGF expression was evaluated with the following semi-quantitative scoring system: 0, no staining; 1, mild staining; 2, moderate staining; 3, strong staining.
For the evaluation of positivity and the intensity of FGFR-2 immunostaining, the following scale was used: 0, no staining; 1+, mild staining; 2+, moderate staining; and 3+, intense staining.
Staining intensity was graded as follows: 0, no staining; 1+, mild staining; 2+, moderate staining; and 3+, intense staining.
