Fig. 2.

Decreased CD4⁺ T cell number and increased T regulatory cells expressing Foxp3 in the tumoural (TU) region of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). a Quantitative real-time PCR-based analysis of CD4 mRNA expression in human lung tissue samples from the TU, peritumoural (PT), and control (CTR) region of patients suffering from adenocarcinoma (ADC) (ADC_CTR = 34, ADC_PT = 30, ADC_TU = 31) or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (SCC_CTR = 23, SCC_PT = 22, SCC_TU = 23) collectively grouped as NSCLC. b Flow cytometric analyses of CD4⁺ T cells (%) in total lung cell suspensions obtained from of the CTR, PT, and TU lung region of patients who suffered from ADC (ADC_CTR = 2, ADC_PT = 2, ADC_TU = 2) or SCC (SCC_CTR = 3, SCC_PT = 3, SCC_TU = 3) subtypes. c Flow cytometric analyses of Foxp3 in CD4⁺ T cells (%) in total lung cell suspension of the CTR, PT, and TU region of NSCLC patients (ADC_CTR = 4, ADC_PT = 4, ADC_TU = 4; SCC_CTR = 1, SCC_PT = 1, SCC_TU = 1). Representative dot plots of the gating strategy for CD4⁺ T cells and of Foxp3⁺ in CD4⁺ T cells are depicted (left, b, c). Data are presented as mean ± SEM and significance levels are indicated as follows: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001