Fig. 2

Investigation of DEX_P&A2&N promoting DC uptake and cross-presentation of tumor neoantigens in orthotopic HCC mice. a Diagram for dosing regimen of DEX_P&A2&N. DEX_P&A2 or DEX_P&A2&N (80 μg/mouse) were injected into day-14 orthotopic HCC mice bearing mCherry-expressing tumors intravenously, and tissues were harvested 2 days after injection. Flow cytometric (b) and quantitative analysis (c) of mCherry⁺CD11c⁺ DCs from tumor of orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEX_P&A2 or DEX_P&A2&N (n = 11) (One-way ANOVA on ranks was used for the number and one-way ANOVA post hoc Student–Newman–Keuls test was applied for the percent analysis). TiDC: tumor-infiltrating DC. Flow cytometric (d) and quantitative analysis (e) of mCherry⁺CD103⁺CD11c⁺ or CD8α⁺CD11c⁺ DCs from tumor of orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEX_P&A2&N (n = 8; Mann–Whitney rank-sum test). f Diagram for dosing regimen of DEX_P&A2&N. DEX_P&A2 or DEX_P&A2&N (80 μg/mouse) were injected into day-14 orthotopic HCC mice bearing OVA-expressing tumors intravenously, and tissues were harvested 2 days after injection. g Flow cytometric and quantitative analysis of OVA⁺ tetramer T cells from splenocytes of orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEX_P&A2 or DEX_P&A2&N (n = 5; one-way ANOVA on ranks). Flow cytometric (h) and quantitative analysis (i) of CD103⁺CD11c⁺ or CD8α⁺CD11c⁺ DCs from TILs of orthotopic Batf3^−/− HCC mice treated with PBS or DEX_P&A2 (n = 4) or DEX_P&A2&N (n = 5) and orthotopic wild-type (WT) HCC mice treated with DEX_P&A2&N (n = 5) (one-way ANOVA on ranks). j Flow cytometric and quantitative analysis of OVA⁺ tetramer T cells from tumor of orthotopic Batf3^−/− HCC mice treated with PBS or DEX_P&A2 (n = 4) or DEX_P&A2&N (n = 5) and orthotopic wild-type (WT) HCC mice treated with DEX_P&A2&N (n = 5) (one-way ANOVA post hoc Student–Newman–Keuls test). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001; n.s, not significant