Fig. 1

Activation of the CXCR3 pathway indicates better efficacy of ICI in mUC patients. A The results of univariate Cox regression analysis are shown in Forest plot. The indicators with p < 0.05 are CXCR3 score, IC level, TMB, TNB and platinum therapy. B The Forest plot visualizes the results of multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results showed that CXCR3 score is a potential prognostic factor of ICI in UC patients. HR indicates mUC patients have a favorable prognosis (HR < 1) or a poor prognosis (HR > 1). C The proportion of mUC patients with different responses to ICI between CXCR3-high and CXCR3-low patients in the ICI cohort. CR: complete response; PR: partial response; PD: progressive disease; SD: stable disease. D Differences in CXCR3 pathway activation between CR/PR and SD/PD patients. The asterisks above the box plot indicate the range of p values. “.”: p < 0.1; “*”: p < 0.05; “**”: p < 0.01; “***”: p < 0.001. E Kaplan-Meier survival curves for OS in CXCR3-high (n = 149) and CXCR3-low(n = 149) patients in the ICI cohort. F the expression of CXCR3 pathway core proteins in non-responder and responder UC patients treated with ICI therapy. Staining for immunoreactivity was assessed by semi-quantitative scoring. − : 0%; + : < 30%; +  + : 30–60%; +  +  + : > 60% of immunoreactive cells throughout the tissue. ICI = immune checkpoint inhibitors. G Comparative analysis of immunohistochemical staining intensity determined by ImageJ. The results were evaluated by t-test. Statistically significant results are marked by asterisk (*) directly in graph. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001