Consistent with the EIC in the late-stage LUSC, the samples in the EIC of early-stage LUSC had higher proportions of immune cells (CD8 T cells, macrophage, and NK cells) imputed by CIBERSORT (Fig. 2C), higher leukocyte fraction (Fig. 2D), and higher tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes percentage (Fig. 2E) than the rest samples. Here, CD8A is linked to neoplasm.