Fig. 8

Fas-related T helper type 9 (T_H9) cells indicate a good prognosis. a–c Flow cytometric analysis of the frequency of IL-9⁺ (interleukin-9⁺) cells among CD4⁺ T cells (left) and the corresponding statistical analysis (right) (a), real-time PCR analysis of Il9 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in T_H9 cells (b), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) measurement of the IL-9 level (c) in T_H9 cells after the stimulation of human naive CD4⁺CD45RA⁺CD45RO⁻ T cells with 10 μg ml⁻¹ ISO or antibodies against human Fas (anti-Fas) with or without the p38 inhibitor SB203580 (0.4 μM) under T_H9-skewing conditions for 4 days (n = 3). d Representative immunofluorescence staining of Fas⁺CD4⁺ and IL-9⁺CD4⁺ T cells in tumor tissues from non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients. Arrows indicate Fas⁺CD4⁺ or IL-9⁺CD4⁺ T cells. e Pearson’s correlation between Fas⁺CD4⁺ T cells and IL-9⁺CD4⁺ T cells in tumor tissues from NSCLC patients. f The relationship between the recurrence-free survival rate of NSCLC patients and the corresponding Fas⁺CD4⁺ or IL-9⁺CD4⁺ T cell numbers in tumor tissues. Scale bar = 25 μm. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 (unpaired Student’s t test: a (right)–c, Spearman’s rank-order correlation test: e; or log-rank test: f). Representative results from three independent experiments are shown (mean and s.d.)