Fig. 5

Thal increases the delivery and efficacy of chemotherapy by tumor vessel normalization. a Schematic diagram depicting generation of 4 T1 tumor homograft model and schedules for injection and analyses. When tumors were approximately 50–100 mm³, tumor-bearing mice were intraperitoneally injected with vehicle, Thal, CPt or Thal + CPt at indicated time points. b Visualized tumors in 4 T1 tumor model after resection. Five tumor tissues per group were showed. c Quantification of tumor volume and tumor weight. d H&E-stained images of tumor sections and comparison of necrotic areas (Yellow dotted line and asterisk) in 4 T1 tumors harvested on day 28. Bar: 200 μm. e Quantification of necrotic areas in 4 T1 tumors. Necrosis is presented as a percentage per total sectional area. f Micrographs of sections from 4 T1 tumors stained for proliferation marker Ki67 (Red). Nuclei are counterstained with DAPI. Bar: 100 μm. g Quantification of percentage of Ki67⁺ cells. h Micrographs of 4 T1 tumor sections from control, Thal, CPt and Thal + CPt-treated mice, stained for CD31 and α-SMA to assess pericyte coverage. Bar: 25 μm. i Micrographs and comparison of CPt⁺ area in 4 T1 tumors harvested on day 28. CPt-DNA adducts were immunostained (Arrows), and CPt⁺ area is measured as a percentage per total sectional area. Bars: 50 μm. Quantitative data are represented as mean ± SD. Student’s t test was utilized for comparision of two groups, one-way ANOVA analysis followed by Bonferroni test was used for multiple comparisons. *p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001