Figure 3.
The DDX3-AREG axis promotes angiogenesis and macrophage recruitment and suppresses cytotoxic immune cells in syngeneic tumors
(A) Experimental procedure for using a syngeneic graft model to evaluate the effect of DDX3 knockdown and rAREGm injection on tumor growth.
(B) Immunoblotting for DDX3 and GAPDH in the tumor extracts collected at 7 and 14 days after transplantation.
(C) Average size of the tumors from control (siC) or DDX3 knockdown (siD#1) MOC-L1 or the latter supplemented with rAREG (siD#1 + rAREGm). Bar graph shows average weight (mean ± SEM) of tumors as in (B). p < 0.01. Eight tumors from each frank of four mice in each group were analyzed.
(D) Representative images of each type of the tumors as in (C) with similar sizes are shown in the top image. Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and immunofluorescence staining of tumor sections. Arrowheads indicate the PAS-positive regions. Bar graphs show PAS intensity and the ratios of F4/80 or granzyme B-positive cells. Scale bars represent 1 mm and 100 μm in PAS and immunofluorescence images, respectively. Error bars represent mean ± SEM; ∗p < 0.01.
(E) A summary of the tumor-promoting effects of the DDX3-AREG axis.