FOXP3 and neoplasm: As CD8-positive cells were abundant in the stromal compartment compared with the epithelium, the differential effect of chemotherapy and CRT on CD8-positive cells compared with FoxP3-positive cells resulted in significantly increased CD8/FoxP3 ratios in the tumor epithelium in the chemotherapy versus treatment-naïve cohort (median ratio 0.8 vs 0.4, p < 0.001) (Fig. 3C) and in the stroma in both the chemotherapy and CRT versus tumor-naïve cohorts (2.1 and 4.5 vs 1.5, p < 0.05 and p < 0.0001, respectively) and in the CRT versus chemotherapy cohort (p < 0.0001) (Fig. 3F).