Figure 6.

VS-6063 depletes suppressive tumor stroma to enhance CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration in tumors. (A) Schedule of combined X-ray RT with VS-6063 treatment in BALB/c mice bearing bilateral 4T1 tumors. (B-F) Frequencies of CD4⁺ cells (B), CD8⁺ cells (C), NK cells (D), DCs (E), and macrophages (F) among CD45⁺ cells in the distant tumors harvested from mice bearing 4T1 tumors after indicated treatments as illustrated in (A) (n = 5 per group). (G, H) Immunohistochemical staining of α-SMA (G) and trichrome (H) in distant tumor tissues harvested from mice bearing 4T1 tumors as illustrated in (A). (I) Representative immunofluorescence images of CFSE-labeled CD8⁺ T cells at 48 h postinjection in distant tumors after indicated treatments as illustrated in (A). (J) Representative NIRF images of DiR-labeled CD8⁺ T cells 48 h postinjection in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice after the indicated treatments as illustrated in (A). Tumors are indicated by red circles. (K) Ex vivo NIRF images (upper) and quantified tumor uptake (below) of DiR-labeled CD8⁺ T cells of distant tumors at 48 h postinjection in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice after indicated treatments as illustrated in (A) (n = 4 per group). Data are represented as mean ± SD. P values were determined using unpaired Student's t-test (B-F, K); NS, not significant (P > 0.05).