Fig. 10: CD163⁺ macrophages mediate the effect of sympathectomy.

a Volcano plot of DSP data in tumor-dominant ROIs from 6.5-week-old KIC mice treated with AA (n = 5 mice) or 6-OHDA (n = 4 mice). Markers significantly upregulated in 6-OHDA treated tumors are shown in red. b Correlation between CTLA4 and CD163 expression in tumor-dominant ROIs in KIC mice treated with 6-OHDA. n = 4 mice, r = 0.3392, P = 0.0322 (Spearman test). c, d Representative images of F4/80⁺ and CD163⁺ macrophages in PDAC of 6.5-week-old KIC mice treated with AA (c) or 6-OHDA (d). e–g Densities of CD163⁺ macrophages (e; P < 0.0001, unpaired t test with Welch’s correction), F4/80⁺ macrophages (f; P = 0.0073, unpaired t test), and CD163/F4/80 ratio (g; p = 0.0141, Mann–Whitney test) in PDAC of 6.5-week-old KIC mice treated with AA (KIC^AA, n = 4 mice, 14 images) or 6-OHDA (KIC^6-OHDA, n = 3 mice, 14 images). Data are presented as median ± SEM. h, Cd163 mRNA expression levels in pancreatic CD45⁺F4/80⁺CD163⁺ macrophages treated or not with norepinephrine (NE). n = 3 samples tested in duplicate. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Vehicle versus NE 10^-8 M, P = 0.1794; Vehicle versus NE 10^-6 M, P = 0.0392 (Kruskal–Wallis test and Dunn’s post hoc tests). i Overall survival of human patients with PDAC and high intratumoral CD163 (n = 14) or low CD163 (n = 9) expression levels. P = 0.0231 (log-rank test), hazard ratio A/B = 3.428 and B/A = 2.445 (A = low CD163 and B = high CD163). j Overall survival of human patients with PDAC and high intratumoral CD68 (n = 8) or low CD68 (n = 17) expression levels. P = 0.1838 (log-rank test), hazard ratio A/B = 0.5552 and B/A = 1.801 (A = low CD68 and B = high CD68). k Outline of the experiment quantified in (l). l Survival of AA-treated KIC mice injected with Ctrl lipo (KIC^{AA/Ctrl lipo}, n = 8) and 6-OHDA-treated KIC mice injected with Ctrl lipo (KIC^{6-OHDA/Ctrl lipo}, n = 7) or DxR lipo (KIC^{6-OHDA/DxR lipo}, n = 6). KIC^{AA/Ctrl lipo} vs. KIC^{6-OHDA/Ctrl lipo}, P = 0.0244 (log-rank test) and hazard ratio B/A = 2.778 (A = KIC^{AA/Ctrl lipo} and B = KIC^{6-OHDA/Ctrl lipo}). KIC^{6-OHDA/Ctrl lipo} vs. KIC^{6-OHDA/DxR lipo}, P = 0.0011 (log-rank test) and hazard ratio A/B = 4.173 (A = KIC^{6-OHDA/Ctrl lipo} and B = KIC^{6-OHDA/DxR lipo}). KIC^{AA/Ctrl lipo} vs. KIC^{6-OHDA/DxR lipo}, P = 0.4397 (log-rank test) and hazard ratio A/B = 1.437 (A = KIC^{AA/Ctrl lipo} and B = KIC^{6-OHDA/DxR lipo}). Scale bars = 500 µm. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.