Fig. 4: WSX1-induced HCC regression is dependent on CD8⁺ T-cells.

Depletion antibodies against CD8⁺ T (α-CD8), CD4⁺ T (α-CD4), and NK (α-NK) cells were used for immune-cell depletion in the spontaneous HCC mouse model. a Efficiency of in vivo immune-cell depletion was validated by flow cytometry. The gating strategy for sorting CD8⁺ T-cells, CD4⁺ T-cells, and NK cells is shown in the supplementary Fig. 8a. b Effect of WSX1 on tumor growth with or without in vivo immune-cell depletion (n = 5). Red arrowheads represent WSX1 injection once a week. Green arrowheads represent injection of the indicated antibodies 3 times a week. c Depletion of CD8⁺ T-cells impaired WSX1-mediated inhibition of HCC formation (P = 0.0002). d Depletion of CD8⁺ T-cells decreased the WSX1-induced survival extension (HR = 7.078, P = 0.0338). All data and images are representative of 2 independent experiments. Quantitative data are presented as mean ± SD and analyzed by One-way ANOVA analysis. Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison tests were used for pairwise comparisons in the ANOVA analysis. The survival curves were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to compare overall survival between groups. All statistical tests were two-sided. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.