Fig. 4: Combined treatment with MWA and AXL-CAR T cells promotes infiltration of CAR T cells and suppresses NSCLC PDX tumour growth.

a Schematic diagram showing the schedule of treatment of NSCLC PDX bearing mice. b Detection of AXL and HLA-A in the patient-derived-xenografts (PDX) tumour by IHC. Representative staining image fields (magnification × 200) are shown (n = 5 per group). Scale bar represents 100 μm. c Tumour volume curve in different groups. Data are analysed by two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (Mock vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.02, Mock vs MWA + AXL-CAR T p = 0.001, MWA vs AXL-CAR T p = 0.001, MWA/AXL-CAR T vs MWA + AXL-CAR T p < 0.0001). d Representative immunofluorescence staining images of GFP-marked CAR-T cell infiltration into cancer tissues from the NSCLC PDX bearing mice. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded mouse tissue sections were stained for GFP (green) and DAPI (blue). Representative staining image fields (magnification ×200) are shown (n = 5 per group). Scale bar represents 100 μm. e, f Percentage of CAR T cells in the peripheral blood on days 42 and 54 and in the tumour on day 42 of PDX bearing mice determined by flow cytometry (e: day 42: mono-CAR T vs comb-CAR T p < 0.0001. day 54: mono-CAR T vs comb-CAR T p = 0.0001. f: mono-CAR T vs comb-CAR T p = 0.003. two-sided unpaired t-test). g, h Representative proportions of CD8⁺ tumour-infiltrating CAR T cells measured by flow cytometry (h: mono-CAR T vs comb-CAR T p < 0.0001, two-sided unpaired t-test). Data are obtained from 5 biologically independent samples per group and presented as the mean ± SD (c, e, f, h). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.