Interestingly, increased NLR in patients with poor/absent pathologic response correlated with significantly higher mean intensity of α-SMA expression (41.9±26.6 vs 18.4±16.6 pixels/cell; p<0.001) in—but not absolute density of—cancer associated fibroblasts in tumor ROIs (Figure 4D), as well as relative abundance of co-expressed PDPN+CXCL1+ iCAF populations in corresponding tumor sections (29.7 ± 8.8% vs 18.4 ± 7.4% tumor area; p<0.001; Figure 4E). Here, PDPN is linked to cancer.