Fig. 1
Depletion of SM22α+ vMCs promotes tumor growth accompanied by aggravated tumor vessel abnormality. a LLC cells were inoculated tdTomatoSM22 mice for 21 days, and tumor sections were immunostained with CD31. Images represent 3 independent experiments. b Human lung cancer and adjacent tissues were immunostained with SM22α. The experiment was repeated 6 times and representative images with different magnifications are shown. c LLC cells were inoculated in DTASM22 and Ctrl mice for 21 days. Tumor sections were coimmunostained with CD31 plus SM22α, α-SMA, CNN1, or SMMHC. The percentages of SM22α/CD31, α-SMA/CD31, CNN1/CD31, and SMMHC/CD31 were quantitatively compared (n = 4). d LLC or B16 cells were inoculated in DTASM22 and Ctrl mice. The weight and volume of tumors were compared between the DTASM22 and Ctrl groups (n = 7 for DTASM22 and n = 6 for Ctrl in LLC; n = 3 for B16). e-f Tumor sections from (c) were stained with H&E or PIMO. The red line marks the necrotic area after H&E staining. For the rightmost samples, tumor-bearing mice were injected i.v with FITC-conjugated Dextran-2MD 15 min before sacrifice. Tumor tissues were immunostained with CD31. The necrotic and hypoxic areas and perfused vessels (CD31+Dex-2MD+) were quantitatively compared between the DTASM22 and Ctrl mice (n = 5). Bars = means ± SD. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01