Tumors tissues were isolated from gastric carcinoma xenograft mice and were fixed using 10% formaldehyde for 2 h at 37°C and embedded in paraffin. Tumor samples were cut into sections (4-µm-thick) and antigen retrieval was performed as described previously (33 (link)). Tumor sections were blocked in 5% BSA for 1 h at 37°C and incubated with the following primary antibodies: Rabbit anti-mouse ki67 (1:1,000; cat. no. 652401), HIF (1:500; cat. both no. 580809; Biolegend, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA), TWIST1 (1:500; cat. no. 573208; Biolegend, Inc.), MMP9 (1:500; cat. no. PAB19095), SOX4 (1:500; cat. no. PAB14092; both Abnova Corporation), N-cadherin (1:200; cat. no. NBP238856), CT-I (1:200; cat. no. NB6004080.01MG; both Novus Biologicals) and FIB (1:500; cat. no. P1H11; R&D Systems, Inc.) for 12 h at 4°C. Subsequently, tumor sections were incubated with HRP-conjugated anti-IgG (1:10,000; cat. no. ab6721, Abcam) for 24 h at 4°C. The results were visualized using a LumiGLO chemiluminescence system (Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Danvers, MA, USA). Images were obtained using a fluorescent microscope (BZ-9000; Keyence Corporation, Osaka, Japan) at magnification, ×40.