Expression of co-stimulator 4-1BB molecule in hepatocellular carcinoma and adjacent non-tumor liver tissue, and its possible role in tumor immunity

Figure 1 Representative RT-PCR results of 4-1BB mRNA ex-pression in normal liver, and HCC tissues as well as its adja-cent tissues. (M, GeneRulerTM 100 bp DNA Ladder Plus; N, normal liver; H, HCC tissues; P, adjacent tissues to HCC (<1 cm), P’: liver tissues located within 1 to 5 cm away from tumor edge)

Figure 2 Representative RT-PCR results of 4-1BB mRNA ex-pression in PBMCs (M,GeneRuler^TM 100 bp DNA Ladder Plus; N, healthy control; H, HCC group).

Figure 3 Comparison of 4-1BB molecules on CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ PBMCs between healthy controls and HCC patients.

Figure 4 Confocal laser micrographs of TILs in HCC adjacent tissues processed for the immunocytochemical detection of 4-1BB and CD4 or CD8 molecules. (A and D, FITC immunofluorescence for CD4 and CD8 molecules respectively; B and E, PE immunof-luorescence for 4-1BB molecules; C and F, automatically synthetic micrographs by computer soft for A and B, and D and E, respectively).