Inferential analysis of cellular infiltration (see Materials and Methods 2.2) based on TCGA-BLCA bulk RNA-seq data revealed that 11 immune cell types had a significant association with OS in the univariate Cox regression model (Additional file 1: Figure S1A), with high infiltration of CD8+ Tem cells, CD8+ T cells, NK cells, Th1 cells, and CD8+ Tcm cells associated with better OS (Cox P < 0.05), whereas high infiltration of four cell types (mast cells, neutrophils, M2 macrophages, and endothelial cells) was associated with worse OS (Cox P < 0.05). Here, CD8A is linked to bladder transitional cell carcinoma.