Journal: Nature Communications
Article Title: A B cell-IgA-epithelial axis enhances antitumor immunity and improves outcome in HPV-associated penile squamous cell carcinoma
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67356-6
Figure Lengend Snippet: A UMAP plot displaying 134,784 immune cells from scRNA-seq datasets of tumor specimens (HPV − , n = 13; HPV + , n = 10), including TIL-Bs (C1-C2), TIL-Ts (C3-C7), NK (C8) and myeloid-derived cells (C9-C12). B Relative abundance of each cluster in each PSCC patient. C , D Bar graph comparing the relative proportions of each cluster ( C ) and major immune types ( D ) between HPV − and HPV + PSCC. P- values were indicated for C1: ** P = 0.0063, C2: ** P = 0.01, C6: ** P = 0.0145 in ( C ) and TIL-Bs: *** P = 0.0007 in ( D ). E Gating strategy for FACS analysis in fresh PSCC specimens. F Histograms showing the relative proportions of total immune cells, TIL-Bs and TIL-Ts in fresh HPV - ( n = 11) and HPV + ( n = 9) PSCC tumors (* P = 0.0151). G Overall survival curves of 85 patients with HPV - ( n = 52) or HPV + ( n = 33) PSCC (* P = 0.0136). H Representative images of PSCC tumor sections with HE staining (left), double-plex IHC staining for CD20 and CD3 (middle), and TLSs (right), marked by black circles in both tumor and non-tumor regions. Scale bar: 2 mm (left and middle), 400 μm (upper right) and 150 μm (lower right). I Quantification of TLSs per tumor area in non-tumor and intra-tumor regions in PSCC ( n = 37) (**** P < 0.0001). J Number of TLSs per tumor area in HPV − ( n = 52) and HPV + ( n = 33) PSCC (** P = 0.0029). K Quantification of the number of CD3 + and CD20 + within TLSs per tumor area in HPV − ( n = 52) and HPV + ( n = 33) PSCC tumor sections by IHC stained (**** P < 0.0001). L Representative immunofluorescence staining for CD3, CD20, CD38 and DAPI + nuclei within TLSs in HPV - and HPV + PSCC tumors. Scale bar: 200 μm. M Quantification of the number of CD3 + , CD20 + , and CD38 + within TLSs per tumor area in HPV − ( n = 10) and HPV + ( n = 10) PSCC tumor sections by IF stained. (CD20: * P = 0.0420, CD38: * P = 0.0430). TIL-Bs:Tumor-infiltrating B cells. TIL-Ts: Tumor-infiltrating T cells.TLSs: tertiary lymphoid structures. A two-sided unpaired Student’s t test was used in ( C ), ( D ), ( F ), ( J ), ( K ) and ( M ). A two-sided paired Student’s t test for ( I ), and a two-sided log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test in ( G ). Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. ns: not significant ( P > 0.05). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
Article Snippet: Primary antibodies were mouse-anti-human KRT5 (ZsBio, TA800727), mouse-anti-human CD45 (ZsBio, ZM-0183), mouse-anti-human CD31 (ZsBio, ZM-0044), rabbit-anti-human VIM (Abram, ab92547), mouse-anti-human CD3 (Servicebio, GB12014), mouse anti-human CD4 (ZsBio, ZM-0418), mouse-anti-human CD8 (Servicebio, GB12068), mouse-anti-human CD20 (Servicebio, GB14030), mouse-anti-human CD38 (Servicebio, GB114831 ), mouse-anti-human CD56 (ZsBio, ZM-0057), rabbit-anti-human CD86 (CST, 91882S), rabbit-anti-human IgA (Abcam, ab124716), rabbit-anti-human PIGR (Abcam, ab96196).
Techniques: Derivative Assay, Staining, Immunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence