Figure 7.

MDSC-dependent increase of oral squamous carcinoma in an orthotopic model of CD24 null mice. In an orthotopic oral cancer model, 0.15 × 10⁵ A223-LG oral cancer cells were injected into the right lateral side of tongues of CD24^+/− and CD24^−/− mice. (A) A representative image of the tongues from 6–7 tumor-bearing mice; (B) Quantification of the tumor size (n = 8–12 mice/group, two independent experiments). (C) Confirmation of the depletion of the Gr1⁺CD11b⁺ cells in the peripheral blood by anti-Gr1 antibody by flow cytometry. (D–F) Impact of MDSC depletion on oral SCC tumor growth (D), body weight loss (E) and tumor-free survival (F) in CD24^−/− tumor bearing mice. Statistical significance was determined by two-tailed Student's or log rank test, where appropriate, *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01.