FIGURE 5.

Combination therapy ameliorated the TME in CT26 tumors. CT26 cells (5 × 10⁵) were transplanted subcutaneously into the back of BALB/c mice. When the tumor volume reached 50–100 mm³ (6 days after transplantation), the mice were randomly allocated to either the control or treatment groups. The drugs were given as described in “Materials and Methods” section. (A) Tumor volumes were monitored every 3 days and (B) the Kaplan–Meier survival distribution was plotting for the mice following the treatment protocol (n = 6). After treatment, the infiltration of CD3⁺ T cells (C), CD8⁺ T cells (D), and Tregs (E), plus the expression of co-inhibitory molecules (PD-1) on CD8⁺ T cells (F) was detected via FCM. The percentage of TAMs (G) and the expression of CD206 on TAMs (H) was detected by FCM (n = 5). (I,J) qRT-PCR analysis of TAM function-associated gene expression (n = 4). The data is presented using the mean ± SEM where applicable, * (P ≤ 0.05), ** (P ≤ 0.01), *** (P < 0.001), **** (P < 0.0001), and ns (no statistical significance, P ≥ 0.05).