Fig. 3.

Cytotoxicity assay of T cells. PBMCs were treated with PD‐L1 blockade, Gal‐3 inhibitor, or PD‐L1 blockade + Gal‐3 inhibitor or PBS (control). The targets (A549 cells) were mixed with PBMCs at different E:T ratios, and cytotoxicity was evaluated using a standard 4‐h 51Cr release assay, as described in the Materials and Methods. The data showed that the Gal‐3 inhibitor could enhance the cytotoxic effect of T cells against A549 cells (P = 0.000, PD‐L1 blockade VS. control; P = 0.000, PD‐L1 blockade VS. PD‐L1 blockade + Gal‐3 inhibitor). All experiments were performed in triplicate, and the data are shown as the mean ± SEM. (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01, by one‐way ANOVA).