In addition, as in the present study, no association was found between FOXP3 expression as a marker for Treg cells and clinical outcomes in other types of cancer (i.e. colorectal cancer) [28], whereas when different markers such as CD127, CTLA-4 and Blimp-1 were used alongside FOXP3 as Treg cell-defining markers, a positive association was observed with patient outcome [29,30]. Here, CTLA4 is linked to colorectal cancer.