Fig. 6: In situ gel vaccine combined with anti-PD-1 therapy for tumor control.

a Representative FACS plots for PD-L1 expression of tumor cells (CD11b⁺, CD3⁺, and CD8⁺ cells have been excluded for these plots) and b percentage of PD-L1⁺ tumor cells at 11 days post treatment with gels containing Dox-iRGD (200 μg) and CpG (100 μg), or Dox-iRGD (200 μg) alone or CpG (100 μg) alone. n = 6 biologically independent animals per group. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc test. c Time frame of efficacy study. Following 4T1 tumor inoculation on day 0, gels containing Dox-iRGD (200 μg) and CpG (100 μg) were injected next to tumors on day 5, and anti-PD-1 was intraperitoneally injected on days 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18, respectively. d Average 4T1 tumor volume of each group over the course of the efficacy study. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc test. e Kaplan–Meier plots for all groups. Statistical analysis was performed using the log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test. For d, e, n = 9 biologically independent animals for the untreated group and n = 8 for the other three groups. f Average tumor nodule counts on the lung tissues harvested from mice at the time of euthanasia. n = 9 biologically independent animals for the untreated group, n = 8 for the anti-PD-1 and gel + anti-PD-1 groups, and n = 7 for the gel group. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD post hoc test. All the numerical data are presented as mean ± SD, except for d where mean ± SEM is used. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.