Figure 3

Cell proliferation and cell death in the tumor. (a) The slides were stained with anti-Ki-67 and the number of Ki-67⁺ cells was counted in the whole tumor area. The Ki-67⁺ cell densities were calculated as the number of Ki-67⁺ cells divided by tumor tissue area (mm²). Cells with a nucleus size ≥ 30 μm² were considered to be cancer cells, and those with < 30 μm² were regarded as immune cells. Slides with the most (BKT053) and the least (BKT005) Ki-67⁺ cells are shown. (b) Correlations between scores for the indicated Ki-67⁺ cell densities were examined. The Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) between the two are indicated at the top of the panels. (c) The vertical axis shows the indicated ssGSEA scores. The horizontal axis shows the Ki-67⁺ cell densities. (d) In H&E slides, tumor cells with elevated cytoplasmic acidity, nuclear fragmentation, or enrichment were defined as damaged cells (arrow). The tumor tissue was equally divided into 4 parts, and 3 areas of 25 mm² each were randomly selected in each fraction. The number of damaged cells was counted in each area and the total number of damaged cells was obtained as the sum of the numbers from 12 areas. The tissues with the most (BKT004) and the least (BKT001) damaged cells are indicated. (e) The vertical axis shows the indicated ssGSEA scores. The horizontal axis shows the number of damaged cells. Correlations between the ssGSEA score for cell death and the total number of damaged cells in H&E slides were examined. The Pearson's correlation efficient (r) is shown in the upper part of each scatter plot.