Figure 4. Sustained expression of ApoLinkerP144 delays tumor progression and increases intratumoral CD8 T cell infiltration in a mouse model of spontaneous melanoma.

(A) Scavenger Receptor B class 1 (SRB1) expression on two different Ret cell lines (established from primary skin melanomas) analyzed by flow cytometry. (B) Ret transgenic tumor-bearing mice were injected i.p either with saline or 4×10¹² gc/mouse of AAVApoLinkerP144 (n = 7/group). Results are displayed as Kaplan-Meier plot of mice survival. Cumulative data of two independent experiments are shown. (C) Ret transgenic mice were injected i.p either with saline or 4×10¹² gc/mouse of AAVApoLinkerP144. Then, mice were sacrificed either at day 21 (n = 7/group) or 50 (saline, n = 5; treatment n = 11) after injection. Mice sacrificed at day 50 were classified as responder (R; grey bar, n = 6) or non-responder (NR; white bar, n = 5) regarding tumor weight; (D) Cells from primary skin tumors and metastatic lymph nodes were isolated at day 50 upon the treatment Frequency of CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in metastatic lymph nodes and of tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells producing TNF-α upon the treatment overnight with LPS measured by flow cytometry were presented as a percentage within the respective cell population; Mean±SEM *, P<0.05.