Fig. 1

Percentages of NK cells in the peripheral blood of 35 healthy volunteers and in the peripheral blood, tumour and adjacent tissues of 52 ESCC patients. a Representative flow cytometry analysis of CD3-CD56+ NK cells in the peripheral blood, tumour and adjacent tissues. Whole peripheral blood-, tumour- and adjacent-tissue-derived cell suspensions were stained with an APC-conjugated antibody (Ab) to human CD56 and a FITC-conjugated Ab to human CD3. CD3–CD56+ NK cell percentages analysed from the lymphocyte gate as defined by the FSC and SSC dot plot. b Statistical analysis of CD3–CD56+ NK cell and CD3+ T cell percentages in the peripheral blood, tumour and adjacent tissue. Data analysed by Student’s t-test are shown as the mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001. c Representative flow cytometry analysis of CD3-CD56^bright and CD3-CD56^dim NK cells in the peripheral blood and tumour tissues of ESCC patients