Fig. 3

ex vivo TCM of 2Gy-irradiated gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma significantly inhibited DC markers. a-c Data from DC surface flow cytometry (a) and ELISA of DC supernatants (b-c) was produced from one healthy PBMC donor per cancer type pre-treated with conditioned media from 0Gy and 2Gy-irradiated patient-matched biopsies of oesophageal (green squares, n = 14), and rectal (orange circles, n = 10) adenocarcinoma. a Patient-matched ex vivo TCM from 0Gy- (no borders) or 2Gy (black borders)-irradiated biopsies of oesophageal and rectal adenocarcinoma altered LPS-induced DC maturation. CD54 was inhibited by 2Gy-irradiated oesophageal TCM relative to mock irradiation. CD54, HLA-DR, CD86 and PD-L1 were inhibited by 2Gy-irradiated rectal TCM relative to mock irradiation. b-c There was no effect of the 2Gy-irradiated TME on TNF-α (b) or IL-12 p70 (c) levels. Statistically significant (paired t-test) modulation of DC maturation between 0Gy- and 2Gy-irradiated patient-matched TCMs is indicated by asterisks, where red asterisks indicate significant inhibition and * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01 and *** p ≤ 0.001