Fig. 3

Sparse partial least squares (sPLS) regression and canonical correspondence analysis (CCpnA) of immune factors and intestinal bacterial taxa in patients undergoing neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy (nCCRT). a Correlation circle plots for the first two sPLS dimensions, with correlations displayed for > 0.2– ≤  − 0.2. The two grey circles indicate correlation coefficient radii at 0.5 and 1.0. Bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) are displayed as dots, with color indicating subcluster affiliation (red, subcluster1; blue, subcluster2). Variables projected closely to each other are positively correlated. Variables projected diametrically opposite from each other are negatively correlated. Variables situated perpendicularly to each other are not correlated. b CCpnA of immune factors and intestinal bacterial taxa in patients undergoing nCCRT. Triplots showing dimensions 1 and 2 of the analysis that included continuous clinical variables (arrows), categorical variables ( +), and ASVs (circles). Samples are depicted as triangles. ASVs with a correlation of > 0.2– ≤ − 0.2 in the sPLS analysis were included in the canonical model. Only the variables and ASVs with a score > 0.2– ≤ − 0.2 in at least one canonical dimension are shown. The ASVs in the canonical plot are colored according to the subcluster they were affiliated with in the sPLS-based hierarchical clustering analysis