Journal: Frontiers in Immunology
Article Title: ATG5-mediated inducible autophagy sustains CAR-T cell durability under solid tumor stress
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1720544
Figure Lengend Snippet: ATG5 OE mCAR-T cells exhibit enhanced in vivo antitumor efficacy with irradiation preconditioning. (A) Schematic overview of the in vivo experimental design. C57BL/6 mice were subcutaneously inoculated with B16F0-hCD19 tumor cells (3 × 10 5 cells). In the IR group, whole-body irradiation (5 Gy) was administered on day 6, followed by adoptive transfer of hCD19 mCAR-T cells (5–7.5 × 10 6 cells) on day 7. In the Non-IR group, mCAR-T cells were adoptively transferred without irradiation. Tumor size was monitored at the indicated time points. (B) Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Survival curves of tumor-bearing mice treated with untransduced CD8 + T cells (UTD), pMIG control, or ATG5 OE mCAR-T cells under Non-IR (left, dashed lines) or IR (right, solid lines) conditions. A tumor size ≥ 225 mm² was used as a surrogate endpoint for survival analysis for humane reasons. Statistical significance was assessed using the log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test, followed by Holm–Šídák’s multiple comparisons test for group comparisons. (C) Tumor growth kinetics. Mean tumor growth curves under Non-IR (left) and IR (right) conditions. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was determined using two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. (D) Individual tumor growth trajectories. Tumor growth curves for individual mice treated with UTD, pMIG, or ATG5 OE mCAR-T cells under Non-IR (upper panels) and IR (lower panels) conditions. Group sizes were as follows: Non-IR, n = 15, 10, and 11; IR, n = 16, 10, and 12 for UTD CD8 + T cells, pMIG, and ATG5 OE mCAR-T cells, respectively. (E) Comparison of tumor sizes at defined time points. Tumor sizes measured on day 15 (Non-IR) and day 17 (IR). Each dot represents an individual mouse, and horizontal lines indicate mean values. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Group sizes were as follows: Non-IR, n = 12, 8, and 10; IR, n = 11, 10, and 12 for UTD CD8 + T cells, pMIG, and ATG5 OE mCAR-T cells, respectively. Statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, *** p < 0.0001. .
Article Snippet: The B16F0 (mouse melanoma) cell line was purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), and the Plat-E (ecotropic retroviral packaging) cell line was obtained from Cell Biolabs (San Diego, CA, USA).
Techniques: In Vivo, Irradiation, Adoptive Transfer Assay, Control, Comparison