Fig 2: Expression of TRIM21 in PTs compared with LMs, RTs, and DMs. TRIM21 expression in PTs was significantly higher compared with LMs (Mann–Whitney test, p < 0.001). Other comparisons did not reach significance (Mann–Whitney test, p > 0.05). (**** p < 0.001, ns = not significant).

Fig 3: TRIM21 expression in primary tumors regarding their anatomical site of origin. TRIM21 expression in primary tumors did not significantly differ in regard to their anatomical site of origin (Kruskal–Wallis test, p = 0.37).

Fig 4: Staining patterns for TRIM21 in HNSCC. We evaluated TRIM21 expression in HNSCC samples from our cohort using immunohistochemistry. We observed heterogenous intratumoral staining patterns, meaning both positive and negative cells were observed within the patients’ samples. In (A), tumor cells show no positive staining with TRIM21. In (B,C), the tumor cells show a positive cytoplasmatic staining with TRIM21.

Fig 5: TRIM21 expression in primary tumors matched with the corresponding lymph node metastases from the same patient. TRIM21 expression in primary tumors and lymph node metastases also significantly differed in matched samples (paired sample t-test, p = 0.007). (** p < 0.01).