FIGURE 2 from Impact of Surgery-Induced Myeloid-derived Suppressor Cells and the NOX2/ROS Axis on Postoperative Survival in Human Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer surgery entails reduced levels of NK cells with abridged expression of the activating NK cell receptor NKp30. Absolute numbers (A, D) and frequencies (B, E) of CD16⁺ (A, B) and CD56bright (D, E) NK cells in preoperative (pre-op) and postoperative (day 1, days 3–5, and day 28) samples from patients with periampullary cancer and healthy donors (HD). Frequencies of NKp30high-expressing cells among CD16⁺ (C) and CD56bright (F) NK cells (N = 16 for pre-op, N = 15 for day 1, N = 14 days 3–5, and N = 10 for day 28 for A and D and N = 16 for pre-op, day 1 and days 3–5, N = 10 for day 28, N = 10 for HD for B–C and E–F). Preoperative and postoperative samples were compared using mixed-effects analysis followed by Šídák multiple comparison test (P-values indicated by *). HD and cancer samples were compared using Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn multiple comparison test (P-values indicated by #). #, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001; ****, P < 0.0001.