CD68 and colorectal cancer: To explore the association between lnc-HOXB8-1:2 and CXCR3 in CRC tissue specimens, we evaluated lnc-HOXB8-1:2 and CXCR3 levels in TAMs (stained by CD68) that infiltrated colorectal cancer tissue specimens from the 10 patients mentioned above using FISH assay and IHC and found that the expression of CD68, lnc-HOXB8-1:2 and CXCR3 increased significantly in the same site of the tissue section from the NED group (Fig. 5A-D).