Fig. 4

In vivo studies to evaluate the efficacy of RDT with CIS@M-F and 5-ALA. Experiments were performed in 4T1-tumor bearing balb/c mice. a Scheme of experimental design. On Day 1, animals received one of the following regimens, including PBS plus ionizing radiation (PBS + IR), 5-ALA with IR (5-ALA + IR), CIS@M-F plus IR (CIS@M-F + IR), PBS only (PBS), CIS@M-F plus 5-ALA without IR (CIS@M-F + 5-ALA), and CIS@M-F plus 5-ALA plus irradiation (CIS@M-F + 5-ALA + IR). 5-ALA (50 mg kg⁻¹ in PBS) was i.p. administered, while CIS@M-F in PBS (1.25 mg kg⁻¹) were intratumorally administered 2 h after the 5-ALA injection. IR (3 Gy) was applied to tumors 1 h after CIS@M-F administration. Two more sessions of treatment were given on Days 3 and 5. Animals were euthanized after 3 weeks or when a humane endpoint was reached. b Tumor growth curves. *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001. c Kaplan Meier survival curves. d Post-mortem staining of tumor tissues, with H&E (upper) and Ki67 (lower). Scale bar, 100 μm. e Animal body weight curves