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. 2023 Jul 12;14:1194931. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1194931

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Gut colonization with ETBF enhances breast cancer growth and distant organ metastasis in the syngeneic mouse model. 4T1 intraductal breast tumor implant in BALB/c mice with ETBF gut colonization or sham control. (A) Tumor progression curves of 4T1 cells implanted intraductally in BALB/c mice harboring enteric ETBF gut colonization or sham control, represented by bioluminescence measured as total flux (n = 5). (B) Plot shows weights of 4T1 tumors from each experimental group for 4 weeks post-tumor cell implantation. (C) Representative images showing metastatic lesions in the liver and lungs in 4T1 intraductal tumor-bearing mice without or with enteric ETBF infection at 4 weeks. (D) Ex situ bioluminescence imaging showing early to late metastatic dissemination to the lungs and liver in sham control and ETBF-infected mice. (E) Ex vivo metastatic colony formation assay from resected organs at different points of tumor progression. (F) Representative H&E images showing the histology of the lungs and liver of sham control and ETBF-infected mice at week 1 and 4 post-tumor cell implantation. Data are representative of three independent experiments; p < 0.05*, p < 0.005**, p < 0.0001***, ns (nonsignificant).