Figure 7. Expression and prognostic value of CD103⁺CD8⁺T cells and CD49a⁺CD8⁺T in lung carcinoma patients.

(a) Top: Frozen tissue sections derived from lung carcinoma patients were stained by immunofluorescence with antibodies directed against human CD8 (green), CD103 (red) and E-cadherin (blue). The E-cadherin staining identifies the carcinomatous nests. The colocalization of CD8, CD103 and E-cadherin markers can be detected by merging the mono-staining picture. The thick arrow indicates extra-tumoural CD103⁺CD8⁺T cells; the thin arrow indicates the intratumoural CD103⁺CD8⁺T cells. Staining with isotypes controls was included for each experiment. (a) Bottom: Frozen tissue sections derived from lung carcinoma patients were stained by immunofluorescence with antibodies directed against human CD8 (green), CD49a (red). The colocalization of CD8 and CD49a markers can be detected by merging the mono-staining picture. The arrows indicate the CD49a⁺CD8⁺T cells. Staining with isotypes controls was included for each experiment (original magnification × 200). (b) Kaplan–Meier analysis of overall survival of patients with lung cancer (n=96). Tumour samples were stained for CD8 and CD103 and E-cadherin to delineate intratumoural or total infiltration (stromal and intratumoural) of cells. Patients were then divided on the basis of CD8⁺, CD103⁺ or CD8⁺CD103⁺T cell infiltration with optimized cut-off. Statistical analysis used a Log-rank test.