Fig. 5

In vivo antitumor efficacy of the nanoVector, TPZ@LXL-1-PpIX-MMT-2. Human MDA-MB-231 cells were inoculated in NU/NU female mice. After the tumors reached a palpable size of 5 mm, various formats of PpIX and TPZ were injected intratumorally into experimental animals once a week at the dosage of 100 µg and 50 µg, respectively, two times. a Schematic of experimental design to examine the effectiveness of nanoVectors on tumor shrinkage. b Tumors of experimental groups removed from the scarified mice at the study end point, Day 14 (14 days after treatment). c Quantitative evaluation of tumor growth for 14 d after treatment with PBS or various formats of PpIX and/or TPZ. TPZ@LXL-1-PpIX-MMT-2 treatment delayed tumor growth (*p < 0.05). d Quantitative evaluation of animal body weight for 14 days after treatment with PBS or various formats of PpIX and/or TPZ. e H&E staining and immunohistochemical analysis for tumor hypoxia. The changes in cell density (upper panel) and cellular morphology in hypoxia (bottom panel) were apparent (as indicated in arrows). No drug other than PBS was received by control group