Fig. 5: Post-ICB TBX21 expression is associated with improved MM survival.
a, Median imputed TBX21 expression in effector clones from scRNA-seq data, stratified by disease control 3 yr after initiation of systemic treatment for metastatic disease, highlighting highly significant induction of TBX21 in patients who respond to treatment (n = 8, P = 6.2 × 10−11) while a significant downregulation is noted in patients who progress (n = 7, P < 2.2 × 10−16). P values from two-sided Wilcoxon signed-rank test; lower and upper box hinges represent the 25th to 75th percentiles, the central line represents the median and the whiskers extend to the highest and lowest values no greater than 1.5 × IQR. b, Bulk CD8+ TBX21 according to disease control at 3 yr after initiation of systemic treatment (baseline: n = 211, P = 0.049; post-cycle 1: n = 163, P = 0.0080; two-sided Wilcoxon rank sum test; boxplots as in a). c, Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrates significantly improved PFS in patients with above median TBX21 after one cycle of immunotherapy (n = 181, P = 0.0051, two-sided log-rank test). d, Cox proportional hazards model indicates that increased posttreatment TBX21 is associated with improved OS when adjusting for ICB type, age, sex, BRAF mutation status and CMV status (HRadj = 0.61; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.96; P = 0.035 derived from Wald test). Increased age is associated with increased risk of death when controlling for TBX21 (HRadj = 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.05; P = 0.023, Wald test). e, Bulk RNA-seq from tumor samples, isolated from patients on sICB treatment, indicates that TBX21 is raised in patients with no progression compared with those who progress (n = 19 not progressive disease, n = 15 progressive disease; P = 0.036, two-sided Wilcoxon rank sum test; boxplots as in a).
