Fig. 2: AXL-CAR T cells show moderate antitumour activity in subcutaneous and pulmonary metastasis mouse models.

a, b Schemes of experiments with tumour-bearing mice. NSG mice received a subcutaneous injection of 2 × 10⁶ A549 or HCC827-ER3 cells. When tumour volume reached about 50 mm³, 1 × 10⁷ AXL-CAR T cells or CD19-CAR T cells were injected through the tail vein and tumour volume was measured every three days (n = 6 mice per group). c, d Tumour volume in mice injected subcutaneously with A549 or HCC827-ER3 cells. (c: Mock/CD19-CAR T vs AXL-CAR T p < 0.0001. d: Mock vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.003, CD19-CAR T vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.02, two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test). e, f Tumour weight in mice injected subcutaneously with A549 or HCC827-ER3 cells at the end point. (e: Mock vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.002, CD19-CAR T vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.004. f: Mock vs AXL-CAR T p < 0.0001, CD19-CAR T vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.004, one-way ANNOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test). g Schematic representation of the pulmonary metastasis experiment. h Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) of mice intravenously injected with A549 GL cells and treated with CD19- or AXL-CAR T cells. Briefly, NSG mice (n = 5 mice per group) received an intravenous injection of 1 × 10⁶ A549 GL cells. After 14 days, 1 × 10⁷ AXL-CAR T cells or CD19-CAR T cells were injected through the tail vein, and BLI was performed on days 14, 21, and 38. i Statistical analysis of the regions of interest at each time point. (Mock/CD19-CAR T vs AXL-CAR T p < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test). j Survival curve of mice with pulmonary metastasis. Statistical significance of the difference was analysed using the log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test (p = 0.002). Data are presented as mean ± SD of indicated samples (c–f, i). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.