Fig. 1
Similar primary tumor growth in 4T1 + RAW264.7 versus 4T1 intraductally inoculated mice. Lactating immunocompetent BALB/c mice were intraductally inoculated in the third mammary gland pair with bioluminescent traceable 4T1 mammary tumor cells either with or without RAW264.7 macrophages. a Primary tumor growth up to 5 w p.i. based on weekly measurements of the total flux radiance (p/s/cm2) at the inoculation sites (number of tumors at each time point: 4T1 + RAW264.7 inoculation group: n = 36 at 1 w p.i., n = 32 at 2 w p.i., n = 31 at 3 w p.i., n = 18 at 4 w p.i., n = 17 at 5 w p.i.; 4T1 inoculation group: n = 32 at 1 w p.i., n = 28 at 2 w p.i., n = 26 at 3 w p.i., n = 11 at 4 w p.i., n = 16 at 5 w p.i.). b Representative image of the bioluminescence signal at 5 w p.i. in both inoculation groups. c Measurement of the primary tumor weight at 3 and 5 w p.i. in both inoculation groups (number of tumors: 4T1 + RAW264.7 inoculation group: n = 8 at 3 w p.i., n = 14 at 5 w p.i.; 4T1 inoculation group: n = 8 at 3 w p.i., n = 10 at 5 w p.i.) d H&E histology of 4T1 + RAW264.7 and 4T1 primary tumor tissue at 1, 3 and 5 w p.i. Arrows indicate tumor cells; asterisks (*) indicate zones in the tumor mass that are characteristic for epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). All scale bars = 50 μm. Data in panel (a) and (c) are presented as the means +/− standard error of the mean (SEM). NS: not significant