Figure 4.

Functional phenotype of tumor-infiltrating mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. (A) Expression of the activation marker CD38 on MAIT cells from tumor and para-tumor tissues of NSCLC patients detected by FCM (gated on CD3⁺ CD161⁺ TCR Vα7.2⁺) and its summary data. (Paratumor, n=27; tumor, n=28). (B and C) Expression of the immune inhibitory molecules PD-1 (B) and TIM-3 (C) on MAIT cells from tumor and paratumor tissues of NSCLC patients detected by FCM (gated on CD3⁺ CD161⁺ TCR Vα7.2⁺) and their summary data. (Paratumor, n=27; tumor, n=34). (D–F) Expression of the effector molecules granzyme B (D), IFN-γ (E) and IL-17A (F) in MAIT cells from tumor and para-tumor tissues of NSCLC patients detected by FCM (gated on CD3⁺ CD161⁺ TCR Vα7.2⁺) after stimulated with PMA and ionomycin for 4 hours and their summary data. (Paratumor, n=27; tumor, n=30). (G) Tumor and paratumor tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (left) and immunofluorescence staining for CD3, TCR Vα7.2, and PD-1 (right) and summary of density information of PD-1⁺ MAIT cells. Scale bar, 50 µm. (H) Tumor and paratumor tissue sections were stained with H&E (left) and immunofluorescence staining for CD3, TCR Vα7.2, and IL-17A (right) and summary of density information of IL-17A⁺ MAIT cells. Immunofluorescence was performed on paired paratumor and tumor tissues from 5 NSCLC patients. Each dot represents one individual high-power field. Scale bar, 100 µm or 50 µm. The upper and lower ends of the boxes represented IQR of values. The lines in the boxes represented median value. Statistical significance was calculated via Mann-Whitney U test. FCM, flow cytometry; PMA, phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate.