Fig. 2

CD8 excluded immune phenotype is associated with genes representing fibrosis and cirrhosis process. a Hematoxylin and eosin stain (top) and immunohistology of two immune phenotypes in HCC samples. IHC was performed on FFPE sections stained for CD8 positive T lymphocytes. The two peri-tumoral and intra-tumoral classifications were based on spatial distribution and infiltration of CD8 cells within the malignant hepatic cells and stromal content. Scale bar = 300 µm. b Depiction of CD8 cells’ density score determined by image analysis of IHC slides as compared between the two immune phenotypes. c Genes differentially expressed between peri-tumoral and intra-tumoral HCC samples. A set of n = 85 genes (red dots: herein called CTL-Ex) were found to be most significantly upregulated in peri-tumoral specimens. Green dots represent genes in the LM22 leukocyte gene signature matrix.⁵³ d A heatmap representing intra-tumoral and peri-tumoral samples demonstrating that CTL-Ex genes expression was not associated with disease stages. TX denotes samples with unknown tumor stage. e A summary of some of the genes in CTL-Ex, including collagens and ECM-related genes