Fig. 6: Ginger-ELN (GELN) improves PD-L1 antibody effect against melanoma mediated by gut metabolites.

A Schematic representation of the treatment schedule for B16F10 melanoma cell (1 × 10⁵, n = 5) inoculation of hFB mice with anti-PD-L1 antibody (Bioxcell BE0101, 15 mg/ml) via intraperitoneal (IP) injection as well as oral administration with GELN or gut fecal Sup containing metabolites (100 µl from 100 mg feces) from GELN treated mice. B Representative B16F10 melanoma primary tumor (top left) and lung (bottom left, metastatic nodules indicated by red arrows) from tumor-bearing hFB mice (n = 5) at 28 d post-injection of B16F10 cells along with anti-PD-L1 antibody w/o GELN or gut metabolites from GELN treated mice. Quantification of primary tumor volume and metastatic nodule number (> 1 μm) (right panel). (P = 0.0386, P = 0.0055, P = 0.0082; P = 0.0485, P = 0.0085, P = 0.0106; two-way ANOVA test, n = 5). C Representative examples of B16F10 melanoma primary tumor (top left) and lung (bottom left) from tumor-bearing hFB mice (n = 5). The treatment of GELN replaced with GELN-RNAs (0.5 mg/kg, body weight) encapsulated with GELN-derived nanovesicle (GNV). (P = 0.0426, P = 0.0076, P = 0.0068; P = 0.0442, P = 0.0063, P = 0.0070; two-way ANOVA test, n = 5). D Representative examples of B16F10 melanoma primary tumor (top left) and lung (bottom left) from tumor bearing GF mice (n = 5). The treatment of each group was the same as in (B). (P = 0.0418, P = 0.0084; P = 0.0281, P = 0.0045; two-way ANOVA test, n = 5). E Representative hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained sections of melanoma tumor tissue (200x magnification) from tumor-bearing mice from (C) and (D). Scale bars, 200 μm. F Survival rate of mice in hFB (C) and GF (D) mice. (P = 0.033, P = 0.028; P = 0.5165; P = 0.0306; two-way Chi-Square test, n = 5). Data are representative of three independent experiments as the mean ± standard deviation (SD, error bars). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.