Fig. 4: Slc2a1 conditional knockout in TAMs impairs suppressive function and enhances CD8+ T cell effector functions.
a, PCA of TAMs from LLC tumours of Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko mice (n = 4). b, Heatmap of macrophage subset scores in Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko TAMs (n = 4). c, Immunosuppressive gene signature scores in Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko TAMs (n = 4). d,e, ARG1 expression (d) and immunosuppressive cytokines (TGF-β, IL-10 and IL-1β) (e) in Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko TAMs (Slc2a1fl/fl group (n = 6) and Slc2a1cko group (n = 7)). MFI, mean fluorescence intensity. f, Schematic diagram (left) depicting the coculture system. CD8⁺ T cells were cocultured with either SLC2A1⁺ or SLC2A1⁻ TAMs, and their functional state was subsequently evaluated by flow cytometry (n = 3). g,h, Flow cytometric analysis of the proportion (g) and total numbers (h) of CD8⁺ T cell populations expressing IFN-γ, TNF or Ki-67 in TC-1 tumours co-implanted with TAMs derived from Slc2a1fl/fl or Slc2a1cko mice (Slc2a1fl/fl group (n = 6) and Slc2a1cko group (n = 5)). i–k, Proportion and numbers of CD8⁺ T cells (i) and the frequency and absolute number of IFN-γ⁺, TNF⁺ or Ki-67⁺ subsets among them, with the frequency shown in (j) and the absolute number shown in (k), in LLC tumour-bearing Slc2a1fl/fl or Slc2a1cko mice (Slc2a1fl/fl group (n = 6) and Slc2a1cko group (n = 7)). l, Growth of LLC tumours of Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko mice treated with isotype control or αPD-L1 antibody therapy (Slc2a1cko group (n = 3) and the other groups (n = 4 each)). m, Schematic and representative images of CD8+ T cell spatial distribution in LLC tumours from Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko mice. Scale bar, 100 μm. n, Inter-CD8+ T cell spatial analysis in LLC tumours from Slc2a1fl/fl and Slc2a1cko mice (n = 6). o, Representative flow cytometry scatter plots (left) and summarized data (right) of the percentage of Ki-67+ and active Caspase-3+ cells among CD8+ T cells (n = 3). Data are shown as the mean ± s.e.m. Statistical analysis was performed using the two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test (c) and unpaired Student’s t-test (d–k, l, n and o). For the violin and box plots, the centre line denotes the median, the box encompasses the first and third quartiles and whiskers denote range. The diagram in f was created using BioRender.com.
