Fig. 3
Antitumor effects of DEXP&A2&N in orthotopic HCC mice. a Diagram for dosing regimen of DEXP&A2&N. DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N (80 μg/mouse) were injected into day-7 orthotopic HCC mice intravenously three times weekly, and tissues were harvested 2 days after last injection. b Measurement of tumor volume in day-7 orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N (n = 10; one-way ANOVA on ranks). c Flow cytometric and quantitative analysis of AFP+ tetramer T cells from splenocytes of orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N (n = 4; one-way ANOVA post hoc Student–Newman–Keuls test). d Flow cytometric and quantitative analysis of GPC3+ tetramer T cells from splenocytes of orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N (n = 5; one-way ANOVA post hoc Student–Newman–Keuls test). Flow cytometric and quantitative analysis of IFN-γ+CD8+ T cells (e) (n = 5; one-way ANOVA post hoc Student–Newman–Keuls test) and T cell division (f) (n = 9; one-way ANOVA on ranks) in splenocytes of orthotopic HCC mice treated with DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N, followed by in vitro stimulation of GPC3 epitopes. g Diagram for dosing regimen of DEXP&A2&N. DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N (120 μg/mouse) were injected into day-21 orthotopic HCC mice bearing large established tumors intravenously three times weekly, and tissues were harvested 2 weeks after last injection. h MRI monitoring of tumor growth in day-21 orthotopic HCC mice bearing large established tumors at different time points. i Assessment of tumor size in orthotopic HCC mice bearing large established tumors treated with PBS (n = 16), DEXP&A2 (n = 7) or DEXP&A2&N (n = 16) at 28 days after initial treatment (one-way ANOVA on ranks). j Survival rate of orthotopic HCC mice treated with PBS (n = 9), DEXP&A2 or DEXP&A2&N (n = 8). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001; n.s, not significant