Fig. 11

Heat-killed P. intermedia increased tumor nerve density and perineural invasion. a Nerve density in OSCC tissues of mouse transplanted tumors. b Representative images of nerve density in normal and OSCC human tissues. c Innervation score difference between the control and heat-killed P. intermedia groups. d Innervation score difference between normal and OSCC tissues of humans. e FOXP3 + Tregs in perineural areas around the invasive fronts of OSCC can be seen in IHC staining images. Black circles and closed arrowheads show the neural structures. Black asterisks and arrows represent the main tumors and Tregs at tumor invasive fronts, respectively. The data are shown as the mean ± SD and were analyzed by t test. *P < 0.05, ****P < 0.0001