Fig. 3: Expression of full-length ITIH5 or secretion-deficient ITIH5Δs suppresses liver metastasis.

a Representative images of livers following intrasplenic injection of human PDAC cells (S2-007) transfected with control vector (Con), ITIH5 (ITI) or ITIH5Δs (Δs). White arrows highlight liver metastases. b Quantification of gross liver metastases from Con, ITI and Δs (median: 16, 10 and 6, respectively). c Quantification of metastasis size (mean length (cm) of the longest dimension of gross liver metastases) from Con, ITI and Δs (median: 2.65, 1.45 and 1.35, respectively) ***P < 0.001. d Quantification of liver metastasis (by liver weight) from Con, ITI and Δs (median: 1.66, 1.56 and 1.51, respectively). *P = 0.028. e Photomicrograph of representative H&E-stained sections of liver with metastases (dashed lines). f Photomicrograph of representative H&E-stained sections of lung from mice in (a, e). Black arrows highlight lung metastases. No lung metastases were identified in the ITIH5-injected mice. g Ratio of the area of liver metastases compared to the total histologic liver area. No significant differences. h Number of lung metastases in Con and Δs mice (ITI group not shown since there were no lung metastases). No significant differences. Error bars show standard error.