Fig. 2: Tumor endothelial cells in the diabetic tumor microenvironment promote the progression of pancreatic cancer.

a Heatmap showing the expression of tumor endothelial disorganization signature genes in tumor samples collected from chow and HFD + STZ mice based on bulk RNA-seq data (n = 3 mice per group). b Bar graph showing the GSVA scores for the tumor endothelial disorganization signature in chow and HFD + STZ tumors (n = 3 mice per group). c, d Representative images (c) and quantification (d) of immunofluorescence staining for CD31 (red) in chow and HFD + STZ tumor tissues (n = 4 mice per group). e Proportion of CD45⁻CD31⁺ cells in tumors quantified using flow cytometry. f Bar graph showing the percentage of CD45⁻CD31⁺ tumor endothelial cells in chow and HFD + STZ tumor tissues (n = 6 mice per group). g Schematic representation of primary tumor endothelial cell isolation and in vitro/in vivo coculture experiments (by figdraw.com). h Bar graph showing fasting blood glucose levels in chow-TEC/HFD + STZ-TEC and KPC coinjected tumor tissues (n = 6 mice per group). i Orthotopic pancreatic tumor samples from chow-TEC/HFD + STZ-TEC and KPC coinjected tumor tissues (n = 6 mice per group). j Bar graph showing tumor volumes in the chow-TEC/HFD + STZ-TEC and KPC coinjected groups (n = 6 mice per group). k Bar graph showing tumor weights in the chow-TEC/HFD + STZ-TEC and KPC coinjected groups (n = 6 mice per group). l, m Representative images (l) and quantification (m) of H&E and immunohistochemical staining for Ki-67 (brown) in chow-TEC/HFD + STZ-TEC and KPC coinjected tumor tissues (n = 6 mice per group). n Line graph showing OD values from CCK-8 proliferation assays for KPC cells cocultured with TECs isolated from chow or HFD + STZ tumor-bearing mice (n = 3 biologically independent samples per group). o, p Representative images (o) and quantification (p) of migrated KPC cells cocultured with TECs isolated from chow or HFD + STZ tumor-bearing mice in Transwell migration assays (n = 3 biologically independent samples per group). OD optical density, H&E hematoxylin & eosin, TEC tumor endothelial cell. The bars represent the means ± SDs. P-values were determined by the two-tailed unpaired t-test (b, d, f, h, j, k, m, p) and two-way ANOVA (n). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.