Fig. 2

The proportion of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Tregs among LNMCs from SMLNs and UJLNs based on clinical features. The percentage of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ cells among LNMCs from SMLNs and UJLNs are shown (a–f). The tongue and oral cavity tumor patients are shown in (a) (n = 10), and those with tumors in other regions are shown in (b) (n = 20). An early-stage group, which included patients with stage I, II and benign tumors (n = 6) (c), and an advanced-stage group, which included stage III, IV and recurrent tumors (n = 24) (d). The results of an analysis of patients with LN metastasis are shown in (e) (n = 17), while those of patients without LN metastasis are shown in (f) (n = 13). The p-values were obtained by the paired t-test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; n.s. not significant