Fig. 1: Transcriptome evaluation of CD4⁺ normal and leukemic cells in acute ATLL patients.

a Left panel: CADM1 versus CD7 subpopulation plots for a patient with smoldering type ATLL. Section P of the plot contains CADM1⁻CD7⁺ cells (normal CD4⁺ cells); section D contains CADM1⁺CD7⁺ cells (indolent tumor cells); and section N contains CADM1⁺CD7⁻ cells (clonally expanded tumor cells). We separated the cells in areas P and N from one patient with acute and two with chronic ATLL, and compared the gene expressions. Right panel: Comparison of expressions of genes associated with inflammation and immunity. Color-coded heatmaps visualizing the differences in categorized gene expressions revealed that inflammation- and immunity-related genes were attenuated in ATLL cells. Blue and orange tiles, respectively, represent the genes with decreased and increased expression in progressing tumor cells, and the color strength indicates the degree. b Volcano plot showing comprehensive change in RNA expressions. Changes in individual gene expressions are compared between CD4⁺ normal cells and leukemic cells. Red lines divide genes according to increase or decrease (with 2- and 1/2-fold change) in expression level and P < 0.1 (Student’s t test). c List of the top ten upregulated and four downregulated genes associated with the immunosuppressive functions of Tregs ranked by P values, excluding CADM1 and CD7.