Fig. 6.

Macrophages were responsible for the MWA-induced NK-cell response in the BALB/c mouse-derived transplantable 4T1 tumor model. a Schematic illustration of the experimental design for b–g (n = 6 mice for each group). b Serum IL-15 levels 7 days after treatment with/without macrophage depletion. The percentages of splenic NK cells (c), NKp46-positive NK cells (d), and Ly-49A-positive NK cells (e) 7 days after treatment with macrophage depletion. f Representative picture and the numbers of metastases in lung lobes from different groups. For the above panels, data are plotted as the mean ± SD. P values were calculated using a parametric test (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001). g Survival analysis of the mice in the MWA group and control group with macrophage depletion using the log-rank test (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001)