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. 2024 Apr 1;134(7):e174545. doi: 10.1172/JCI174545

Figure 9. MMP14 activity is required for collagen processing and maintenance of the tumor vasculature.

Figure 9

(A) Representative whole-mount fluorescence confocal microscopy images of tumor vasculature (stained for PECAM-1, left, middle panels) and of the advanced CRC niche (CRC/EpCAM, red; TANs/Lyz2, green; vessels/PECAM-1, blue, right panel) at treatment endpoints. Scale bars: 50μm. (B–E) Quantification of vascular architecture parameters from tumor images following specified treatments. Images representative of 3 independent experiments with 50 FOVs analyzed per group (Vehicle/isotype, n = 6, Anti-VEGFR2, n = 6, Reparixin, n = 6, MMP14i, n = 8 mice, 1-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test). For analyses presented in panel L, a total of approximately 1,000 vessels per treatment conditions were analyzed. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. (F) Representative IHC staining of the tumor vascular network (PECAM-1, top), Collagen I (middle, primary substrate) and Laminin-1 (bottom, secondary substrate) for the specified treatment groups. Scale bar: 20μm. (G) Quantification of vessel coverage, (H) Collagen 1, and (I) Laminin 1 coverage in tumor tissues following specified treatments. (J) Quantification of staining intensity as an index of Collagen I and (K) Laminin-1 levels. For all image analyses, 50 FOVs per treatment group from n = 4–5 mice were quantified. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.0001, 1-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test.