Table 1.
Histological Features of the Thymomas.
Fig 1.
Clustering and Venn Diagram of Significant Proteins (q-value <0.20).
A. Unsupervised clustering of the 35 individual thymus samples reveal distinctive clustering within different subsets of normal and tumorous thymus tissue. This indicates the interpatient variability does not exceed intersubtype variability. B. Proteins identified in thymoma samples were matched against normal thymus tissue to obtain a fold change in protein expression. Proteins displaying a significant fold change of q-value 0.20 were compared between the different tumor subtypes.
Table 2.
Collagen Proteins Differentially Expressed in Thymomas from Normal Thymus.
Fig 2.
Proteomic Profile Contribution of T Lymphocytes.
A. Heatmap plot of the 263 T lymphocyte candidates across the 29 thymoma samples produced after MaxLFQ values were z-normalized. Hierarchical clustering was performed using Euclidian distance and average linkage using the Perseus software. B. Line plot of log2 fold change by subtype of the pattern associated with T lymphocyte infiltration. Prothymosin alpha (red) is a known T lymphocyte associated protein found in the thymus. Proteins matching DAVID GO Term T Cell Differentiation (GO:0030217) were highlighted in orange. Stathmin (blue) a protein assessed for subtype diagnosis potential. Ki67 (green) is a known cell proliferation marker.
Fig 3.
Intratumoral Lymphocytes Throughout Thymoma Subtypes.
A. Histology of normal thymus and the thymoma types: A, AB, B1, B2 and B3. Tissue samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Images were captured at 400x magnification. B. The different thymus specimens were stained with TdT (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase) an established maker for developing T lymphocytes (40x magnification).
Fig 4.
Changes in Stathmin Expression in Different Thymoma Subtypes: A. Heavy stathmin staining was noted in the T lymphocytes of AB, B1 and B2 as well as in the epithelial derived lung squamous cell carcinoma tumor (40x magnification). B. Bar graph displaying the intensity quantitation of stathmin for the thymus and thymoma samples. Standard deviation is denoted in the error bars. (q- values: *** <0.05, ** 0.05–0.10 and * 0.10–0.20) C. Log2 fold changes of stathmin expression of the different thymomas in comparison to normal thymus.
Table 3.
Anti-apoptotic Proteins were Differentially Expressed in Thymomas A and B3.
Fig 5.
Desmoyokin is Differentially Expressed in and A and B Thymomas.
A.Thymus tissue of A, AB, B1, B2 and B3 were stained with anti- desmoyokin antibody. The type A thymomas (A and AB) stained heavily while the type B (B1, B2 and B3) and normal thymus tissue expressed low amounts of the protein (40x magnification). B. Bar graph displaying the intensity quantitation of desmoyokin for the thymus and thymoma samples. Standard deviation is denoted in the error bars. (q- values: *** <0.05, ** 0.05–0.10 and * 0.10–0.20) C. Log2 fold changes of desmoyokin expression of the different thymomas in comparison to normal thymus. D. Normal thymus tissue is stained with hematoxylin and eosin, anti- desmoyokin and anti- proteasome β5t.