Figure 5. Inflammation and leukocyte infiltration in fH^–/– livers.

(A and B) Large pockets of inflammatory infiltrate captured by multiplex imaging in fH^–/– (A, left, and B) but not in WT livers (A, right). Nuclei stained with DAPI (blue). Original magnification ×200. Scale bars: 50 μm (A), 10 μm (B). (C) Increased populations of each cell type in fH^–/– livers compared with WT. F4/80⁺, ***P = 0.0002, t = 6.802, df = 7.559; CD8⁺, **P = 0.0069, t = 4.949, df = 4.178; CD4⁺, P = 0.1228; CD3⁺, P = 0.1868; Foxp3⁺/CD4⁺, P = 0.1409; B220⁺, P = 0.2894. For A–C, n = 5 males (3 months) per group; 2-tailed t test with Welch’s correction; mean ± SEM. (D) By flow cytometry, young fH^–/– males have fewer hepatic neutrophils compared with WT (P = 0.2067) and fH^–/–fB^–/– (**P = 0.0051, t = 5.596, df = 3.963) mice. Neutrophils trend higher in fH^–/– males with liver tumors compared with those without (P = 0.061). Data were analyzed by unpaired, 2-tailed t test with Welch’s correction; mean ± SEM; n = 3 per group (fH^–/– and WT, 3 months); n = 4 per group (fH^–/– and fH^–/–fB^–/–, 4 months); n = 4 and 2 (fH^–/– with and without liver tumors, respectively; 22–24 months). (E) Clusters of Ly6G⁺ cells (pink) are observed in livers with multiple tumor foci (arrows). Scale bars: 50 μm; n = 10 independent fH^–/– liver tumors. Nuclei stained with DAPI (turquoise). All images are representative of 2 independent experiments.