Figure 6.

Association between PD-L1 expression on tumor cells and infiltration of inflammatory cells in HCC microenvironment. (A) Gating routine for the identification of tumor cells and CD45⁺ cells is shown. Flow cytometric analysis was performed to measure PD-L1 expression on tumor cells(gate C) and CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD56⁺, and CD68⁺ cell subsets gating on the CD45⁺fraction(gate B). Significantly higher percentages of CD4⁺ T cells and CD8⁺ T cells were observed in the HCC tumor tissues with high PD-L1 expression (case 1) compared to that with low PD-L1 expression (case 2). (B) A summary of correlation analysis was shown that PD-L1 positive tumor cells in tumor tissues significantly correlated with tumor-infiltrating CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells, but not associated with CD56⁺ NK cell and CD68⁺ macrophage (n = 10).