Fig. 4: MDSCs but not TAM are the major subtype of myeloid cells accumulated in tumor cells-rich region in early-stage OSCC.

a Neighborhood analysis of epithelial tumor cells in SP-seq, displaying the distribution of intra, inter, and distal spots in early-stage and late-stage OSCC. Scale bar, 500 μm. b, c The relative abundance of CD8⁺ T cells and myeloid cells within each of the three spot categories (intra, inter, distal) in early-stage (n = 3 biologically independent samples) and late-stage (n = 3 biologically independent samples) OSCC. Data were shown as mean ± SD. Significance was calculated by two-sided Student’s t test. Exact p values and sample amount (spots) were provided in the Source Data file. ns, non-significant. d–i Quantification of the ratio of each cell type within intra, inter, and distal spots in early-stage (n = 3 biologically independent samples) and late-stage (n = 3 biologically independent samples) OSCC. Data were presented as mean ± SD. Significance was calculated by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. Exact p values and sample amount (spots) were provided in the Source Data file. ns, non-significant. j Spatial expression of ANXA1 visualized using the “SpatialFeaturePlot” function from the Seurat R package, highlighting its expression across the tissue sections (Early-stage, n = 3 biologically independent samples; Late-stage, n = 3 biologically independent samples). Data were shown as mean ± SD. Significance was calculated by two-sided Student’s t test. Exact p value and sample amount (spots) were provided in the Source Data file. Scale bar, 500 μm. k Epithelial tumor cell weights stratified by high/low MDSC or TAM weights (defined by the upper quartile) (Early-stage, n = 3 biologically independent samples; Late-stage, n = 3 biologically independent samples). Data were shown as mean ± SD. Significance was calculated by two-sided Student’s t test. Exact p value and sample amount (spots) were provided in the Source Data file. Scale bar, 500 μm.