highly significantP = 0.002
2a ), leading to highly significant two pairs of negative correlations between SALL4 and miR-200c ( P = 0.002, R = -0.3157, Pearson’s correlation coefficients) or miR-200c and PD-L1 ( P = 0.0007, R = -0.3469, Pearson’s correlation coefficients), accompanied with a positive correlation between SALL4 and PD-L1 expression ( P < 0.0001, R = 0.3773, Pearson’s correlation coefficients) (Fig. 2b ); however, no statistical correlation among these molecules was identified in peritumor regions ( P = 0.2441, R = 0.0771; P = 0.2927, R = 0.0604; P = 0.3921, R = 0.0292, Pearson’s correlation coefficients) (Fig. 2c, d ).