Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: A class act: HDAC1- Malat1 regulates MDSC apoptosis and cell cycling to decrease suppression of T cells

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.23.713743

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) UMAP visualization of major cell clusters identified from single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of NT2.5-LM breast-to-lung metastatic tumors after 3 weeks of treatment with: vehicle (V), Entinostat (E), anti-CTLA-4 + anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (PC), and Entinostat + anti-CTLA-4 + anti-PD-1 combination (EPC). Subclusters of MDSCs identified: G-MDSCs and M-MDSCs. (B) Iterative logistic regression analyses conducted on the major MDSC cluster comparing the Vehicle (V) and Entinostat + ICIs combination treatment (EPC). (C) Expression of Malat1 / MALAT1 in G- and M-MDSCs isolated from lung metastases of NT2.5-LM mice treated with vehicle vs. Entinostat for 3 weeks (left, n=2 from 5 pooled mice per treatment group), J774M murine MDSC-like cell line treated with Entinostat for 24 hours (middle, n=3), and human PBMC-derived MDSCs (hMDSCs) treated with Entinostat for 24 hours (right, n=3). (D) Median Fluorescence Intensity expression of Malat1 in CD45 + CD11b + MHC-II - F4/80 - Ly6G - Ly6C hi cells from lung metastases in 4T1 mice, treated with vehicle (V), Entinostat (E), and Entinostat + ICIs (EPC) for 3 weeks. (E) Expression of Malat1 in J774M cell line treated with various concentrations of various HDAC inhibitors, with corresponding targeted class and specific HDACs. One-way ANOVA for (C, E: all statistically significant with p<0.05, unless indicated as non-significant (ns)), Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s correction for (D). * p<0.05, *** p< 0.001, **** p<0.0001. ENT = Entinostat; PAN = Panobinostat; BEL = Belinostat; VOR = Vorinostat; TSA = Trichostatin A; DOM = Domatinostat; CHL = Chlopynostat; PYR = Pyroxamide; SCA = Santacruzamate A; RGF = RGFP966; TMP = TMP269; SIS = SIS17.

Article Snippet: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) used in this study: anti-CTLA-4 (BioXCell cat. #BE0131) and anti-PD-1 (BioXCell cat. #BE0146).

Techniques: Single Cell, RNA Sequencing, Expressing, Isolation, Derivative Assay, Fluorescence

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: A multivalent peptide-polymer conjugate material mimics STING to therapeutically activate innate immune signaling

doi: 10.64898/2026.03.24.712780

Figure Lengend Snippet: ( A ) Mice were inoculated with 3×10 6 BPPNM cells IP and dosed with 20 μg of STING or Scr conjugate delivered by LNP IP at 10, 13, 16, and 19 days after inoculation. Omental tumor was collected on day 20 for analysis by flow cytometry. Groups included N = 5 mice. ( B ) Cell populations in tumor after treatment, displaying percentage of CD45 + cells made up by T cells (CD3 + ), CD8 + T cells, CD4 + T cells, NK cells (CD3 - NK1.1 + ), B cells (CD19 + ), Macrophages (F4/80 + ), DCs (CD11c + MHCII + ), and MDSCs (CD11b + Gr-1 hi ). Percentage of CD45 - cells made up by BPPNM cancer cells (GFP + ) are also displayed. ( C-D ) Polarization of Macrophages (F4/80 + ), showing MFI and representative distributions of ( C ) CD86 and ( D ) CD206. ( E ) Activation of DCs (CD11c + MHCII + ), showing MFI and representative distributions of CD86. ( F ) Expression of PD-1 on CD8 + T cells, showing percentage of cells that are PD-1 + and representative distributions of PD-1. P values computed with a one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test are displayed above each figure. All flow data is represented as mean ± SD. ( G ) Mice were inoculated with 3×10 6 BPPNM cells IP and dosed with 20 μg of STING or Scr conjugate delivered by LNP IP at 10, 13, 16, 19, and 22 days after inoculation. A subset of groups were additionally treated with 100 μg αPD-1 antibody at 11 and 17 days after inoculation. Groups included N = 6 (PBS, STING LNP, Scr LNP), N = 5 (STING LNP + αPD-1), or N = 4 (PBS + αPD-1, Scr LNP + αPD-1) mice. ( H ) Survival plot with P values determined by log(rank) (Mantel–Cox) test. ( I-K ) Tumor burden measured by IVIS, displaying ( I ) geometric mean ± SD bioluminescent intensity over the treatment period, ( J ) an image of the mouse with the median bioluminescent intensity from each group at the measurement following the end of treatment (day 24), and ( K ) individual mouse bioluminescent intensity values.

Article Snippet: In groups specified in figure captions, mice were also administered a 100 μg dose of anti-mouse PD-1 antibody (Bio X Cell #BE0273 InVivoMAb, Clone 29F.1A12) in 200 μL of 1× PBS on days 11 and 17 after tumor inoculation.

Techniques: Flow Cytometry, Activation Assay, Expressing

Journal: Microbiome

Article Title: Tumor-colonized Streptococcus mutans metabolically reprograms tumor microenvironment and promotes oral squamous cell carcinoma.

doi: 10.1186/s40168-024-01907-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: Fig. 5 Single-cell transcriptomic landscape reveals the shift of the cellular types during oral carcinogenesis, and KYNA is a predominant driving force for expansions and infiltrations of neutrophils in the TME of OSCC. A Overview of the workflow for scRNA-seq analyses of OLK and OSCC rat tongue tissues. B UMAP plot of the clustering results for 13 major cell types from OLK and OSCC tissues. C Stacked histogram of the percentages of different cells from OLK and OSCC tissues. D Quantitative analysis of neutrophils, macrophages, and T cells in non-epithelial cells in OLK and OSCC tissues. E H&E and IHC staining for CD11b in OLK and OSCC tissues of experimental rats. Scale bar: 600 µm for 4 × magnification and 300 µm for 10 × magnification. F Representative IHC staining images and statistical analysis of CD16 in saline and KYNA-treated 4NQO rats. Scale bars: 200 µm for 10 × magnification and 50 µm for 40 × magnification. G Representative flow cytometry dot plots and statistical analysis of CD11b + CD16 + neutrophils from the peripheral blood of OSCC patients after KYNA treatment. H Relative SLC7A8 expression in neutrophils from OSCC patients after KYNA treatment detected by RT-qPCR. I Representative flow cytometry dot plots and statistical analysis of AHR + neutrophils from OSCC patients after treatments with KYNA in indicated concentrations. In D, unpaired Student’s t-test; E and F, Mann– Whitney U test; G, H, and I, one-way ANOVA

Article Snippet: At week 20, the rats were sacrificed, and the tongues were dissected, and a longitudinal mid-lingual incision was made. (4) IL-1β/PD-L1monoclonal antibody (mAb) intervention (8 rats/group): (A) 4NQO + IL-1β mAb (200 μg/rat, BE0246, cloneB122, Bioxcell, USA); (B) 4NQO + KYNA + IL-1β mAb; (C) 4NQO + PD-L1 mAb (200 μg/rat, BE0383, clone 368A.4H1, Bioxcell, USA); (D) 4NQO + KYNA + PD-L1 mAb; (E) 4NQO + control IgG (200 μg/rat, BE0091, Bioxcell, USA).

Techniques: Immunohistochemistry, Saline, Flow Cytometry, Expressing, Quantitative RT-PCR, MANN-WHITNEY