Fig. 5.

Plot diagrams of significant moderate‐to‐strong correlations between immune checkpoints and immune cell infiltration. There was a significant strong positive correlation between primary tumor IDO stroma endothelium, stroma nonendothelial cell, and immune cell density in stroma including CD45⁺ cells (r = 0.78 and r = 0.7, respectively, P < 0.001, A, B), and CD8⁺ T cells (r = 0.87 and r = 0.77, respectively, P < 0.001, D, E). Similarly, there was a statistically significant strong positive correlation between primary tumor IDO intratumoral expression and immune cell density in tumor nests, including CD45⁺ cells (r = 0.79, P < 0.001, C), and CD8⁺ T cells (r = 0.8, P < 0.001, F). A statistically significant strong positive correlation was present between IDO stroma endothelium, stroma nonendothelial cell, and CD45⁺ cell density in the stroma of LN metastases (r = 0.8 and r = 0.8, respectively, P < 0.001, G, H). There was a significant moderate positive correlation between IDO stroma endothelium (r = 0.54, P < 0.006) and CD8⁺ T‐cell density and a strong positive correlation between stroma nonendothelial cell and CD8⁺ T‐cell density (r = 0.68, P = 0.001) in the stromata of LN metastases (J, K). Moreover, there was a statistically significant strong positive correlation, between primary tumor IDO intratumoral expression and immune cell density in tumor nests, including CD45⁺ cells (r = 0.68, P < 0.001, I), and a moderate positive correlation between the same parameters, regarding CD8⁺ T cells (r = 0.58, P < 0.001, L). Spearman's rank correlation was used for variables CD45, CD3, CD8, IDO, and Kendall's Tau‐b (Kendall rank correlation coefficient) for ordinal variable PVR. Metric data were shown as mean and corresponding SEM, and graphs indicate the mean and corresponding 95% CI.