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. 2022 Sep 26;13:5644. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33285-x

Fig. 4. USP14 regulates immune suppression in an IDO1-dependent manner.

Fig. 4

a MC38-Vec./Scr., MC38-USP14/Scr., and MC38-USP14/shIDO1 cells were cultured for 24 h with or without KYNU treatment. KYN and TRP levels in cell supernatants were determined by ELISA (n = 3 biological replicates). Vec., vector; Scr., scramble. b MC38-Vec./Scr., MC38-USP14/Scr., and MC38-USP14/shIDO1 cells were injected subcutaneously into C57BL/6 J mice at day 0. HPLC-MS/MS analysis was used to generate the tryptophan metabolomic profiles of mouse plasma at day 21, and the KYN/TRP ratio in the mouse plasma was calculated (n = 3 biological replicates). c Representative immunofluorescence images of the indicated mouse tumors stained with anti-KYN. Scale bars, 100 µm. d Quantification of the proliferation of splenic CD8+ T cells. Unstimulated T cells were used as a negative control (n = 3 biological replicates). e IFN-γ secretion by splenic CD8+ T cells measured by ELISA (n = 3 biological replicates). f, g The percentage of GzB+ cells in CD8+ T cells and CD25+FOXP3+ cells in CD4+ T cells isolated from the indicated tumors was measured by flow cytometry and analyzed by FlowJo software. h The percentage of PD-1+ cells in CD8+ T cells isolated from the indicated tumors was measured by flow cytometry and analyzed by FlowJo software. i, j Representative images and quantification of GzB+CD8+ cells and FOXP3+CD4+ cells analyzed by IF staining in tumors (n = 3 biological replicates). The small red boxed areas were amplified images of cells. Multiple GzB+CD8+ cells and FOXP3+CD4+ cells were marked with red arrowheads. The far-right images in each panel were close-ups of the boxed region. Scale bars, 50 µm. k The percentage of GzB+CD8+ T cells and CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ T cells per milligram of the indicated tumors was measured by flow cytometry and analyzed by FlowJo software (n = 3 biological replicates). In a, b, eh, j, and k, error bars represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments, two-sided Student’s t-test. GzB Granzyme B. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.