Fig. 1.

CD8⁺PD-1⁺TCF1⁺ progenitor exhausted T cells (TCF1⁺Tex^prog) and CD8⁺PD-1⁺TCF1⁻ terminally exhausted T cells (TCF1⁻Tex^term) in the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) microenvironment. a Representative images of HNSCC multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) slides showing CD8⁺PD-1⁺TCF1⁺ Tex^prog (yellow arrow) and CD8⁺PD-1⁺TCF1⁻Tex^term (white arrow) cells. b Quantitative analysis revealed that the density of TCF1⁻Tex^term cells was higher than that of TCF1⁺Tex^prog in the whole tumoral region (n = 102). c Quantitative analysis revealed that progenitor and terminally exhausted T cells were more abundant in the stromal region (n = 102). d Representative contour plots of TCF1⁺Tex^prog and TCF1⁻Tex^term in tumor by flow cytometry and quantitative analysis showed that TCF1⁻Tex^term were more abundant than TCF1⁺Tex^prog in tumors (n = 34). e Representative contour plots of TCF1⁺Tex^prog and TCF1⁻Tex^term in draining lymph nodes (dLNs) by flow cytometry and quantitative analysis showed that TCF1⁺Tex^prog were more abundant than TCF1⁻Tex^term in dLNs (n = 10). f Flow cytometry results showed that TCF1⁻Tex^term in dLNs was positively associated with TCF1⁻Tex^term in tumors, while there was no correlation for TCF1⁺Tex^prog (n = 10). Paired t tests were performed for the data in (b–e). Spearman’s correlation test for (f). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Scale bars: 200 μm for left (a) and 50 μm for right (a)