Fig. 2: P2RX1 deficiency promotes PDAC liver metastases and upregulates immune exhaustion-related gene expression.

a, b P2rx1^−/− mice were generated using CRISPR/Cas9 system. Schematic diagram was shown in (a) and genotyping results were shown in (b) (representative result from three independent experiments). c, d KPC cells were intrasplenically injected to seed livers of WT and P2rx1^−/− mice, and in vivo imaging was performed at sequential times. Representative images are shown in (c), and quantitative results are shown in (d) (n = 6 per group, three independent experiments). e Representative images of liver metastatic samples harvested at day 17. f Liver weight of liver metastatic samples was measured at day 17 (n = 5 per group, two independent experiments). g Survival analysis of liver metastatic WT or P2rx1^−/− mice within a duration of 5 weeks (n = 10 per group, two independent experiments). h Normal liver (D0) and two sequential stages (D3 and D17) of liver metastases in WT and P2rx1^−/− mice were harvested for RNA-seq, and PCA analyses were performed (n = 3 for D0, n = 4 for D3 and D17). i Representative Ki67 immunohistochemical staining of WT and P2rx1^−/− liver metastases at day 17 (n = 4 per group, two independent experiments). 100 μm of scale bar for low power fields, 25 μm of scale bar for high power fields. j Heatmap of immune checkpoint molecules in liver metastases of WT or P2rx1^−/− mice at D3 and D17 (n = 4 per group). Bars represent mean ± standard deviation in (d, f). P values are derived from two-sided Student’s t test (d, f), or log-rank test (g). Source data are provided as a Source data file.