Fig. 6: mTOR signaling is induced in metastatic tumor thrombus.

a Quantification (left) and representative immunohistochemistry images (right) of phospho-S6 in TT^NM and TT^M (n = 65 patients, 81 samples). Data are presented as scatter dot plots and lines are at mean values ±SEM. Two-sided unpaired Student t test. b Schematic highlighting experimental protocol to inhibit mTOR in RCC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). c Tumor growth inhibition rates of TT- and metastasis-derived PDX lines by mTOR inhibitor sirolimus (3–5 mice for each PDX). d Schematic of experimental protocol to inhibit mTOR in experimental metastasis assay. e, f Luciferase transduced 786-O ccRCC cells were intracardially injected and metastatic incidence was tracked by whole-body bioluminescent imaging (BLI: Total photon flux (p/s)) in mice treated with either vehicle or everolimus daily by oral gavage. BLI quantification and representative images of whole-body are shown (e). Quantification of metastatic burden in organs by ex vivo imaging (f). n = 4 mice each group. Data are presented as mean ±  SD. Two-tailed Mann–Whitney U-test.