Fig. 2.
Role of macrophages in inducing ubiquitin-specific peptidase 17 expression in lung cancers. a Top panel: Schematic diagram for Mn THP-1 cells activation into M0 macrophages, and their polarization into M1 and M2 macrophages. Bottom panel: Polarization of M1 and M2 macrophages was characterized by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) of their markers. b Induction of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 17 (USP17) in H1299 lung cancer cells by conditioned media from different macrophage types. USP17 expression was analyzed by RT-qPCR. c–e Mice were subcutaneously injected with 1 × 105 of Lewis lung cancer (LLC) cells alone or a mixture of LLC cells and bone marrow-derived macrophages with a 7:3 ratio of a total number of 1 × 105 into C57BL/6J mice following the schedule illustrated (c). Tumor volume was measured at the indicated time-points, and the mean tumor size was plotted (mean ± standard deviation, n = 5). The mice were killed after 42 days, tumors were collected and imaged (d). USP17 and inflammation-associated gene expressions in the collected tumors were analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR (e). Bars, data represent mean ± standard deviation of three independent experiments (a, b) or analysis (e), *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01 compared with the group of M0 macrophages (a), the group of control medium treatment (b), or the group of injection with LLC cells alone (e)