Fig. 7. Programmed cell death and in vivo therapeutic effect of light-activated BT.

(A) Viability of BT-incubated A549 cancer cells after white light irradiation at 20 mW cm⁻² for 10 min. (B) Expression levels of cleaved caspase-1 and GSDMD-N in A549 cells as assessed by Western blot analysis. (C) IL-18 and IL-1β content detected using ELISA for supernatant of BT-treated A549 cell culture after light treatment (n = 3). (D) Representative images of HMGB1 and CRT immunofluorescence staining for A549 cells after BT and irradiation treatments. Scale bar, 50 μm. (E) Tumor volume growing trend within 2 weeks after intratumoral injection of BT, followed by light treatment (n = 4). (F) Photographs of tumors collected from mice after 2 weeks of treatment. (G) Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)–staining analysis of tumor sections after BT and irradiation treatments. (H) Representative confocal images of HMGB1, CRT, and CD8 levels in 4T1 tumor sections. Scale bars, 50 μm. (I and J) TFN-α and INF-α levels in serum after BT treatment as detected by ELISA (n = 3). Data are presented as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 were determined using one-sample t tests. TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor–α; IFN-γ, interferon-γ.