Table 1 Analysis of immune cell infiltration using immunohistochemical staining of all soft tissue sarcoma samples.

From: Immune evasion in lung metastasis of leiomyosarcoma: upregulation of EPCAM inhibits CD8+ T cell infiltration

  1. Using a 40× objective lens, the number of positively stained cells in five different fields was counted for cluster of differentiation (CD)4, CD8, forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3), CD20, CD56, CD68, CD163, and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), and the total number was used to assess global tumour infiltration. The number of positive cells was scored as follows: + (≤30 cells/field), ++ (30–70 cells/field), +++ (70–120 cells/field), and ++++ (≥120 cells/field). Compared to the primary tumour, lung metastases with a marked increase were coloured red and those with a marked decrease were coloured blue. A marked increase or decrease was defined as an increase or decrease of more than 50% each, and those with a change of small absolute value, less than 30 cells were excluded. For PD-L1 staining counts, those positive in tumour cells were included, while those positive in immune cells, such as macrophages, were excluded. The area of PD-L1 positive staining against the entire tissue was measured and areas exceeding 1% were considered positive.
  2. LMS leiomyosarcoma, UPS undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, SS synovial sarcoma, MFS myxofibrosarcoma, MLPS myxoid liposarcoma, DDLPS dedifferentiated liposarcoma, ASPS alveolar soft part sarcoma.
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