Fig. 7: YTHDF2 expression and distribution are associated with T cell function in human cancers.
a Violin plot comparing Ythdf2 gene expression levels of CD8 T cells assigned with high or low polyfunctionality signature scores that were derived from single-cell RNA-seq datasets. Left, CRC (colorectal carcinoma), n = 10 patients. Middle, PDAC (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma), n = 20 patients. Right, HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma), n = 31 patients. b Violin plot comparing pre- or post-treatment Ythdf2 gene expression levels of CD8 T cells between responders and non-responders. Left, pre-treatment melanoma, n = 19 (pre-treatment) or 29 (post-treatment). Right, HCC, n = 31 (post-treatment). c Violin plot comparing Ythdf2 gene expression levels among CD8 T cell clusters generated from neoadjuvant anti-PD-1-treated HCC in b. d–i Tissue sections from post-treatment patients with HCC (n = 45 patients, d–g) or CRC (n = 30 patients, h–k) were stained for CD8 (red), YTHDF2 (green) and DAPI (blue). d–h Representative immunofluorescent images of sections from HCC (d) and CRC (h) patients showing different responses to neo-adjuvant chemo-(immuno-) therapy. A dashed box represents the 4× enlarged area shown in the bottom panels with separate channels. White arrows point to cells positive for YTHDF2 and CD8. Quantification of CD8 T cells (e, i), frequencies of YTHDF2-positive CD8 T cells (f, j) and quantification of YTHDF2 intensity of CD8 T cells (g, k). CR, complete response; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease; PD, progressed disease. For the boxplots, the boxes are centered around the median, extending from the 25th to the 75th percentiles, while the whiskers represent the minimum and maximum values. Outliers are depicted as points beyond the whiskers (a–c). Scale bar, 10 μm. Error bars, mean ± s.e.m. Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test (a–c, e–g, i–k), adjustments using the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (a–c).
