Fig. 2

Antitumor activity of TNFα, TCP-1/TNFα, IFNγ or TCP-1/IFNγ single treatment in the orthotopic CRC model. a Schematic representation of treatment regimen in the orthotopic CRC model. b Representative picture of the tumors in all groups after treatment for 7 days (n ≥ 4 per group). c Tumor weight at sacrifice and d Tumor size along with time in all treatment groups. Tumor size of each mouse was normalized to that measured at beginning of treatment. TCP-1/TNFα and TCP-1/IFNγ significantly inhibited tumor growth compared with the control group and their respective unconjugated proteins. e CD34^bright CD45^dim hematopoietic cells in bone marrow. There was no myelosuppression in all treatment groups. f Apoptosis in tumor mass was detected by TUNEL assay and quantified. There were more TUNEL positive cells in the TNFα and TCP-1/TNFα treated groups compared with the control group. g Immunofluorescence staining for cleaved caspase-3 and quantification result. Compared with the control group, TNFα and IFNγ groups showed a little but not significant increase in cleaved caspase-3 while TCP-1/TNFα and TCP-1/IFNγ groups significantly increased cleaved caspase-3. h Immunohistochemistry staining for CD31 showing the effect of treatment on tumor blood vessel. There was no obvious vessel destruction for all treatment groups. Data were presented as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05. **P < 0.01. ***P < 0.001