Fig. 3: ACT-DC eradicates small tumors and suppresses larger tumors in combination with immune checkpoint blockade in an MC38 model. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: ACT-DC eradicates small tumors and suppresses larger tumors in combination with immune checkpoint blockade in an MC38 model.

From: Integrating antigen capturing nanoparticles and type 1 conventional dendritic cell therapy for in situ cancer immunization

Fig. 3

a–c Therapeutic efficacy of ACT-DC in early-stage MC38 tumors (n = 4, biologically independent animals). a Treatment schedule. b Tumor growth curve. c Survival curve of mice treated with ACT-DC or control formulations. d–n Therapeutic efficacy of ACT-DC in an established MC38 tumor model. d Treatment schedule. e Growth curve of primary tumors (n = 15 for ACT-DC, n = 8 for ACT-DC+aPD1, n = 7 for the other groups, biologically independent animals). f Survival curve. g, h Efficacy of ACT-DC in controlling the first subcutaneous (s.c.) tumor rechallenge (n = 5 for ACT-DC and Naïve groups, n = 6 for ACT-DC+aPD1, biologically independent animals). Rechallenge was conducted on day 86 post-primary tumor inoculation. g Tumor growth curve. h Survival curve post the first rechallenge. i, j Efficacy of ACT-DC in controlling the second s.c. tumor rechallenge (n = 7 for Naïve, n = 6 for ACT-DC+aPD1, n = 2 for ACT-DC, biologically independent animals). The second rechallenge was conducted on day 167 post-primary tumor inoculation. i Growth curve of the second rechallenged tumors. j Survival curve of mice after the second rechallenge. k, l Adpgk-specific CD8 T cells in the blood 15 days after the second rechallenge (n = 7 for Naïve, n = 6 for ACT-DC+aPD1, biologically independent animals). k Representative flow cytometry plot. l Percentage of Adpgk tetramer-positive cells in the blood. m, n Memory CD8 T cells in the blood 15 days after the second rechallenge (n = 7 for Naïve, n = 6 for ACT-DC+aPD1, biologically independent animals). m Representative flow cytometry plot. n Percentage of central memory (CD44 + CD62L+) and effector memory (CD44 + CD62L−) CD8 T cells in the blood. For b, e, g, i, l, n, data were presented as mean values ± SEM. Statistical analysis for (b, e, g, i): two-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett test. Statistical analysis for (f, h, j): two-sided Mantel–Cox tests. Statistical analysis for (l, n): two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test. For a, d, created in BioRender. Zhao, Z. (2025) https://BioRender.com/3ow34vf. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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