Fig. 3

Patterns of type I and III interferon induction upon fractionated irradiation. Different patterns of either type I and/or type III interferon induction occur in vitro, in vivo and patients with esophageal cancer during the course of fractionated radiotherapy, independent of ISG induction. a mRNA expression analyses of interferon expression in HT29 cells during fractionated irradiation (n = 3). * p-value ≤0.05 vs. 0 × 2 Gy. b Levels of IFN-β and IFN-λ protein in cell culture supernatants of HT29 cells during fractionated irradiation (n = 3). * p-value ≤0.05 vs. 0 × 2 Gy. CM = culture medium. SF = surviving fraction. c mRNA expression analyses of interferon expression in RKO, HCT116, COLO320 and SW480 cells during fractionated irradiation vs. 0 × 2 Gy. * p-value ≤0.05 vs. 0 × 2 Gy. d mRNA expression analyses of interferon expression in HT29 xenograft tumors during fractionated irradiation (n = 5 mice/group). e Levels of IFN-β and IFN-λ protein in mouse serum during fractionated irradiation (n = 5 mice/group). f mRNA expression levels of ISG expression in patient-matched tumor samples from esophageal cancer patients (n = 20) prior to or during chemoradiotherapy. Fold expression in on-treatment samples vs. pre-treatment is shown. * p-value ≤0.05 vs. matched pre-treatment samples. g Similar as in (f) for fold change in mRNA expression levels of different IFNs. * p-value ≤0.05 vs. matched pre-treatment samples