Fig. 3

Determination of cut-off values for LAG-3 expression on TILs, PD-L1 expression on TC, PD-1 expression on TILs and survival analyses. X-tile analysis of DFS was performed using patient data to evaluate the optimal cut-off values for LAG-3, PD-L1 and PD-1 expression. The optimal cut-off values are highlighted by the black circles in the left panels (A, D, G) and are shown in the histograms of the entire cohort (middle panels (B, E, H)), and Kaplan–Meier plots are displayed in the right panels (C, F, I). The optimal cut-off value for LAG-3 expression on TILs was 14, patients with LAG-3 expression on more than 14 cells were associated with poorer disease-free survival (DFS) than patients with LAG-3 expression on fewer than 14 cells (A–C). The optimal cut-off value for PD-L1 expression on TC was nine, patients with PD-L1 on TCs with a score lower than nine had better survival than those with PD-L1 on TCs with a score higher than nine (D, E). The optimal cut-off value for PD-1 expression on TILs was two cells, patients with PD-1 expression on fewer than two cells was related to superior DFS than those with PD-1 expression on more than two cells (G, H)