Table 3.

Association of stromal tumour infiltrating lymphocytes-stromal cells co-occurrence and intratumoural tumour infiltrating lymphocytes-tumour cells co-occurrence with clinicopathological parameters in the study cohorts.

	Stromal tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs)-stromal cells co-occurrence						Intratumoural tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (tTILs)-tumour cells co-occurrence
	Discovery set		Test set		External validation cohort		Discovery set		Test set		External validation cohort
Characteristics	Mean Rank	p-value	Mean Rank	p-value	Mean Rank	p-value	Mean Rank	p-value	Mean Rank	p-value	Mean Rank	p-value
Age at diagnosis (years)
< 50	943	< 0.001	371	0.01	171	0.4	886	< 0.001	371	0.01	160	0.9
≥ 50	749		322		158		751		322		159
Menopausal status
Premenopausal	906	< 0.001	380	< 0.001	NA	NA	849	< 0.001	364	0.01	NA	NA
Postmenopausal	749		317				755		322
Tumour size (cm)
< 2	721	<0.001	298	<0.001	147	0.004	714	<0.001	304	<0.001	141	< 0.001
≥ 2	962		402		177		950		388		186
Tumour grade
1	611	< 0.001	265	< 0.001	128	<0.001	569	< 0.001	262	< 0.001	123	<0.001
2	766		328		170		760		327		173
3	1045		418		212		1062		424		214
Mitotic count
1	713	< 0.001	300	< 0.001	149	<0.001	694	< 0.001	298	< 0.001	145	<0.001
2	926		401		196		906		393		216
3	1070		420		202		1129		448		208
Nuclear pleomorphism
1	365	< 0.001	255	< 0.001	188	<0.001	545	< 0.001	158	< 0.001	157	<0.001
2	659		281		141		666		299		144
3	927		390		192		897		372		187
Tubule formation
1	590	< 0.001	261	0.004	138	0.07	520	< 0.001	245	< 0.001	131	0.006
2	794		327		156		732		324		153
3	814		344		171		842		349		176
Nottingham Prognostic Index
Good prognostic group	672	< 0.001	284	< 0.001	141	<0.001	665	< 0.001	289	< 0.001	138	<0.001
Moderate prognostic group	930		385		194		916		381		198
Poor prognostic group	1173		450		193		1206		378		271
Histological types
No special type (NST)	862	< 0.001	350	< 0.001	166	0.002	873	< 0.001	362	< 0.001	169	0.005
Lobular	666		298		154		629		262		142
Other special types	494		194		110		405		195		106
Mixed NST and other tumour types	750		332		156		721		320		160
Lymphovascular invasion
Negative	765	< 0.001	322	0.003	155	<0.001	758	< 0.001	329	0.6	155	<0.001
Positive	933		388		236		912		338		237
Lymph node status
Negative	767	< 0.001	323	0.06	157	0.1	763	0.009	326	0.2	155	0.04
Positive	866		357		177		837		345		189
Progesterone receptor
Negative	815	0.2	360	0.05	159	0.9	757	0.3	339	0.5	138	0.2
Positive	780		323		160		782		328		162
Ki67 index
Low ( < 20%)	301	< 0.001	140	< 0.001	NA	NA	297	< 0.001	140	< 0.001	NA	NA
High ( ≥ 20%)	414		183				409		182

NA not applicable.

Significant p-values are in bold (Mann-Whitney test).