Fig. 2: Characterization of gene expression profiles of cells in tissue samples obtained following combined treatment with anti-PD-L1 antibodies and chemoradiotherapy.

a Workflow of the analysis in this study. b, c The number of cells in the total field analysed before (Patients 1, 2, and 7) and after (Patients 1, 3, 7 and 8) surgery. Positivity was defined as ≥2 or above. In all pre-post comparisons, a statistically significant difference was observed (P < 0.05, Student’s t-test). d The number of white blood cells (WBCs) and lymphocytes in the plasma. Pre: plasma within 2 weeks before treatment; Post: plasma within 2 weeks after resection. e Bar plot illustrating differences in the density of mRNA expression per cell area between pretreatment (Patient 1: 1029 cells, Patient 3: 1248 cells, and Patient 7: 340 cells) and posttreatment (Patient 1: 1502 cells, Patient 2: 1059 cells, and Patient 7: 1049). The x-axis indicates the effect size (Cohen’s d), and the y-axis indicates each gene with significant changes in expression (Welch’s t test, P < 0.05). f Confirmation of gene expression through Xenium Explorer. g Heatmap with dendrogram illustrating differences in the density of gene expression between manually delineated intertumoural, ≤20 μm, ≤70 μm, and ≤120 μm regions. The x-axis indicates each delineated region, and the y-axis indicates 302 genes in the Xenium I lung panel. h Merged images of gene expression and HE staining.