Fig. 1

GA-MSCs promoted glioma growth by upregulating CD73 expression on MDSCs

(A) Survival curves of glioma patients with high (upper 50% of gene expression) and low (lower 50% of gene expression) levels of CD73, CD90, and CD105 expression based on data from TCGA. (B, C) Representative bioluminescence images, luminescence quantification (n = 3 for each group) and survival analysis (n = 5 for each group) for mice implanted with GL261 cells (Ctrl group), GL261 cells mixed with bone marrow MSCs (BM-MSCs groups) or GL261 cells mixed with glioma-associated MSCs (GA-MSCs group). (D, E) PBS, mouse BM-MSCs-derived culture medium (CM) or GA-MSCs-derived CM was used to stimulate mouse bone marrow cells. The percentage of Gr-1⁺CD11b⁺ MDSCs and the expression of CD73 on MDSCs were measured by flow cytometry. (F, G) The percentage of Gr-1⁺CD11b⁺ MDSCs and the expression of CD73 on MDSCs infiltrating in glioma tissues in mice in (B) were measured by flow cytometry. The data are presented as the mean ± SD; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001