To this end, we stained peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples of a total of 71 NSCLC patients (PR: n = 14; SD: n = 25; PD: n = 32) for 28 markers (Additional file 1: Tables S2 and S3), followed by dimensionality reduction as well as rationale-based analysis to identify (combinations of) markers from each of our flow cytometry panels that would reveal significant differences between BOR groups and time points within the CD8 T cell subset (identical analysis was conducted in CD4 T cells; data not shown). Here, CD4 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.