Figure 2
HIFU reduces viable tumor and downregulates cancer and proliferation related genes and pathways. (A) Heatmap visualization of Z-scores of cancer and proliferation-related genes for each treatment cohort. Live cells as measured with flow cytometry of the (B) thermal ablation and (C) mechanical ablation cohorts. (D) Survival proportions of control animals compared to animals that were treated with mechanical HIFU alone, immunotherapy alone, or the combination of mechanical HIFU and immunotherapy. H&E sections of (E) a thermally-ablated tumor (arrows indicate rim of viable tumor cells), (F) a tumor that received both thermal ablation and immunotherapy, (G) a tumor treated with mechanical HIFU (arrows indicate hemorrhage), (H) a tumor that received both mechanical HIFU and immunotherapy, and (I) an untreated control tumor. Scale bar represents 2 mm in all cases. Time points for RNA-seq are: 1 week post ablation for all cohorts that received thermal ablation, and 24 h post HIFU for cohorts that received mechanical HIFU. For flow cytometry studies, time points are 72 h for cohorts that received mechanical HIFU and 1 week for cohorts that received thermal ablation alone. Time points for IHC are 72 h post ablation for thermal ablation alone, 24 h for mechanical HIFU alone, and 1 week for both thermal and mechanical ablation plus immunotherapy. Red and white overlays on histological sections indicate the insonation pattern performed (either circular continuous wave for thermal ablation or a grid pattern for mechanical HIFU). The heatmap was created in R Studio v1.2.5001 (https://rstudio.com).
