Fig. 2

Representative examples of HLA expression patterns in the primary tumor and corresponding metastatic tumor sample. a Heterogeneous HLA-A expression in SCC on the cell membrane of the primary tumor cells (T). In the corresponding LN, no HLA-A was expressed by the metastatic tumor cells (T in lower panel), while it is expressed by surrounding immune cells. b Primary tumor cells (T) show membrane expression of HLA-A (indicated by black arrow, upper panel). Metastatic tumor cells (T in lower panel) in corresponding LN show less expression of HLA-A compared to the primary tumor. c Primary AC shows a high cytoplasmic expression of HLA-A (T in upper panel). In the corresponding LN metastasis, there is loss of HLA-A expression in the tumor cells (T in lower panel), while it is expressed by surrounding immune cells. d Low expression levels of HLA-G in primary SCC (T in upper panel) and in the corresponding metastatic tumor cells (T in lower panel). e Primary AC (T in upper panel) show low expression levels of HLA-G, while in the corresponding metastatic tumor cells (T in lower panel), HLA-G is abundantly expressed at the cell surface. f Primary AC (T in upper panel) show high expression levels of HLA-G, while HLA-G is not expressed in the corresponding metastatic tumor cells (T in lower panel). Scale bar is 50 μm