FIGURE 6.

The effect of pemetrexed on the combination therapy of ICB and CTLs for the treatment of NSCLC in the xenograft animal model. (A) The experimental design and protocol. A549‐Luc cells (5 × 10⁵ cells/mice) were subcutaneously injected into right back side of the mice. On day 0, mice were injected with pemetrexed (50 mg/kg) through the tail vein once a week for 2 weeks. On day 1 and for the following 2 weeks, mice were weekly injected with CD8⁺ T cells (5 × 10⁶ cells/mice) with ICB (α‐PDL‐1, 2 mg/kg and/or α‐HLA‐G, 2 mg/kg) via the tail vein. Images were taken every week. (B) IVIS images of A549‐Luc tumors in mice treated with CD8⁺ T and α‐PDL‐1/α‐HLA‐G in the presence or absence of pemetrexed, and following the procedure described in (A). (C) Mice were injected with d‐luciferin (120 mg/kg), and then the tumor size was detected and quantified using bioluminescence photometry. (D) The inhibition rate of tumor compared with the group for CD8⁺ T cells (*p < 0.05).