FIGURE 2 from EGFR Inhibition by Cetuximab Modulates Hypoxia and IFN Response Genes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Hypoxia subgroup has immunosuppressive TME. Boxplots showing cell counts distribution of different immune markers CAIX+ cells representing hypoxia marker (A), CD3+ T cells (B), CD8+ cytotoxic T cells (C), PCK+ tumor cells expressing PD-L1 (D), HLA-DR+ APCs (E), and CD8+ T cells/FOXP3+ Tregs (F), among the three subgroups in the TMA mIHC cohort (n = 90). Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA test and followed by Tukey post hoc tests. G, Representative mIHC images showing that the average numbers of immune cells expressing CD3+ T cells (green color), CD8+ cytotoxic T cells (yellow color), CD69+ activated T cells (red color), CD103+ resident memory T cells (cyan color) within 20 μm of a PCK+ cell (orange color) was statistically significantly lowest in the Hypoxia subgroup compared with the Mixture and Immune subgroups. Nuclei are shown in blue. Individual TMA core was considered as a region of interest (ROI). Bottom panel represents the zoom-in distance proximity and spatial distribution between a tumor cell and an immune cell within the TME.