Figure 4. MAPK-mutant HNSCC patient tumors were CD8⁺ T-cell inflamed with immunoreactive cytolytic signatures.

(A) A bubble plot showing the degree of statistical significance for HNSCC tumor infiltration levels of B cells, CD4⁺ T-cells, CD8⁺ T-cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, and neutrophils (by TIMER analyses (Li et al, 2016, 2017b), and the CYT score, T-effector score and IFN-γ score for HNSCC tumors bearing respective pathway mutations (versus respective WT tumors). Bubbles are highlighted in red outline when P < 0.05 with calculated positive correlations for increase in the respective TIL or immune score, and bubbles are highlighted in orange outline when P < 0.05 with calculated negative correlations indicating decrease in the respective TIL or immune score when a pathway is mutated. (B) Results for TIMER analysis for MAPK pathway-mutated versus WT HNSCC tumors for all HNSCC tumors (upper panel), or for human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative HNSCC only (lower panel). MAPK pathway-mutated tumor showed most significant increases in CD8⁺ T-cell infiltrations in all HNSCC, as well as in HPV-negative HNSCC (lower panel). P-values were shown for each immune cell type (unpaired t test). (C) Comparisons of CYT score, T-effector signature score, and IFN-γ functionality score between MAPK-mutated versus WT HNSCC tumors (for all HNSCC in upper panel; and for HPV-negative HNSCC only in the lower panel).