Figure 1

Frequency, phenotype, and distribution of NK-cells within peripheral blood and tumor cell suspensions of GBM patients opposed to control individuals. (a) The frequencies of CD3^-CD56⁺ NK-cells within the CD45⁺ leucocyte and lymphocyte population, as well as the proportion of CD56^dim and CD56^bright NK-cells were calculated (b). The frequencies of CD159a/NKG2A⁺ and CD158ab/KIR2DL-1,-2/3 in CD56^dim and CD56^bright NK-cell subsets in peripheral blood (PBMC-GBM) and tumor cell suspensions of GBM patients (TIL-GBM) and control individuals (PBMC-Co) are shown. (c) In addition, the proportion of CD158ab⁺ and CD159a⁺ tumor-derived CD3^-CD56⁺ NK-cells, as well as the ratio of CD158ab to CD159a compared to peripheral blood of GBM patients or control individuals were determined. (d) Representative immunohistochemical staining of KIR2DL-1/-2/3-expressing cells with glioblastoma tissue. Mean values + /− SD are depicted. P values were calculated using the Kruskal–Wallis test with post-hoc Dunn´s multiple comparison analysis (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001).