Figure 5: Cancer cell-adjacent cytotoxic T cells significantly correlate with survival.

(a) Schematic representation of the AUC levels based on an L-function calculated for T-cell infiltration. Dashed line—random distribution, Blue area—high AUC levels/High infiltration, Red area—low AUC levels/low infiltration. (b) Schematic representing the calculation of the L-function based on the distribution of T cells within a radius of 20 μm from the nuclear centre of a cytokeratin 8⁺ cancer cell. (c–g) Survival analysis of all 132 patients based on infiltration as determined by the AUC levels of all CD3⁺ T cells (c), CD3⁺CD4⁻CD8⁻ other T cells (d), CD3⁺CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells (e), CD3⁺CD4⁺Foxp3⁻ Teffs (f) and CD3⁺CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ Tregs (g) within 20 μm of cytokeratin 8⁺ cancer cells. N values correspond to uncensored patients (who reached cancer survival end point). High and low infiltration values were calculated using the L-function AUC values and divided based on the median infiltration values. Significance was determined using the Log-rank Mantel–Cox test. *P<0.05, NS, not significant.