Fig. 4: ApoA1-targeted cholesterol efflux reinvigorates TAM functional specialization.

a Amplex Red staining of cellular cholesterol levels. Data are related to the experimental data (Fig. 3h). Experiment conducted once. n = 3 biological samples. b Quantification of macrophage cholesterol efflux. n = 3 biological samples. (c-d) Quantification of ex vivo phagocytosis in mouse TAMs (c) and human TAMs (d). n = 5 biological samples. e Quantification of the expression of “don’t eat me” receptors and cholesterol contents of TAMs in GBM mice expressing APOA1. GL261, n = 11 mice per group. G422, n = 8 mice per group. f Quantification of in vivo phagocytosis in TAMs in orthotopic GBM-bearing mice. n = 7 mice per group. g Quantification of antigen-presenting complex MHC-I/II and pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α/iNOS levels of TAMs in GBM mice expressing APOA1. n = 7 mice per group. h Determination of cell-to-cell contacts between TAMs and OT-I T cells. n = 6 biological samples. Ex vivo proliferation of CD8⁺ T cells cocultured with space-separated TAMs (i), space-contacted TAMs (j), and tumor cells (k). Separated TAMs, n = 3 independent experiments. Contacted TAMs, n = 6 independent experiments. Tumor cells, n = 3 independent experiments. (l) Quantification of cytotoxic INF-γ/TNF-α production in tumor-infiltrating CD8⁺ T cells in vivo. GL261, n = 6 mice per group. G422, n = 10 mice per group. Quantification of PD-1⁺LAG-3⁺ (m) and cholesterol levels (n) in tumor-infiltrating CD8⁺ T cells in GL261 tumors. PD-1⁺LAG-3⁺, n = 8 mice per group. Cholesterol levels, n = 9 mice per group. o Schematic diagram of ApoA1 acting on the TAM-T-cell axis. Statistical significance was determined using the Mann–Whitney test (Two-tailed) in c, e, f, g, h, l, m, n, the unpaired t test (Two-tailed) in b, i, j, k, or the paired t test (Two-tailed) in d. All data are the mean ± SD. Source data are provided in the Source Data file.