Fig. 6

The influence of NP size on tumor-associated parameters influencing NP delivery efficacy and the role of specialized tumor-associated endothelial cells. a Violin plots showing the NP delivery efficacy for every group of NPs expressed as the % of tumor-associated NPs relative to the originally administered amount. b–d UMAP plots for tumor-associated parameters that were found to influence NP delivery efficacy for b Au₁₀ NPs, c Au₂₀ NPs and d Au₄₀ NPs. Please note that the plots for Au₄₀ NPs represent the same parameters as relevant for Au₆₀ and Au₈₀ NPs (a complete overview of all UMAP plots for all NP sizes can be found in Additional file 1: Figures S9–13). e) Representative RNAscope images of tumor sections stained against CD31, CD276, Plvap mRNA and counterstained with DAPI nuclear stain. Scale bars = 50 µm. The top row is from a tumor with high NP levels, the bottom row is from a tumor with low NP levels. f Violin plots of quantified RNAscope data expressed as the % of Plvap⁺ TECs, CD276⁺ TECs and Plvap⁺CD276⁺ TECs relative to total TEC levels for tumors with high and low NP delivery efficacy. Statistically significant differences between high and low NP groups for every parameter is indicated where appropriate (n = 10; **: p < 0.01; ***: p < 0.001)