Fig. 6: Functional characterization of the ICBcircSig score.

a Volcano plots for the enrichment of hallmarks for cohort 1 samples with high and lowICBcircSig score based on the Normalized Enrichment Score (NES) from the GSEA. b The enrichment of immune cell for samples with high and low ICBcircSig score based on the Normalized Enrichment Score (NES) from the GSEA. c Cytotoxic T cell score in the high- (n = 11) and low- (n = 59) risk groups stratified by the ICBcircSig score. d GEP score in the high- and low-risk groups stratified by the ICBcircSig score. e–g The expression of circTMTC3 (e), miR-142-5p (f), and PD-L1 (g) in SK-MEL-28 melanoma cell line with circTMTC3 overexpression (oe) or control group (n = 3 in each group). h–j The expression of circFAM117B (h), miR-142-5p (i), and PD-L1 (j) in SK-MEL-28 melanoma cell line with circFAM117B overexpression (oe) or control group. k–m SK-MEL-28 melanoma cells with or without overexpression of circTMTC3 or circFAM117B co-cultured with activated T cells for 48 h were subjected to crystal violet staining (k). SK-MEL-28-to-T cell ratio, 1:3. l, m Statistical analysis comparing the ability of T cell killing in (k), n = 3 in each group. Two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used in c, d. The boxes in c, d indicate the median ± 1 quartile, with the whiskers extending from the hinge to the smallest or largest value within 1.5× IQR from the box boundaries. The unpaired two-sided Student T-test was used in e–j, one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test was used in l, m. The error bars in e–j and l, m indicate the mean ± s.d. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source data Fig. 6a–d.