Fig. 1

Exosomes released from irradiated dying tumor cells dynamically potentiate tumor repopulation. a Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of significantly changed mRNAs in SW1990 cells after radiation. b Density of exosomes isolated from the supernatant of unirradiated or 10Gy irradiated SW1990 cells. c-d Cell cycle assay (c) and EdU cell proliferation assay (d) of SW1990 cells treated with exosomes isolated from unirradiated or 10Gy irradiated SW1990 cells. e Cell viability analysis of SW1990 cells treated with CM of unirradiated or 10Gy irradiated SW1990 cells, or exosomes-depleted CM and the exosomes from irradiated cells, respectively. f Representative images (left) and quantifications (right) of IHC staining of BrdU in SW1990 subcutaneous tumors treated with exosomes isolated from unirradiated or 10Gy irradiated SW1990 cells. Scale bar: 50 μm. g Colony formation assay of SW1990 cells. Cells were treated with exosomes derived from unirradiated or 10Gy irradiated SW1990 cells, and further subjected to 10Gy irradiation. Representative images (down) and quantifications (top) were shown. h-i Tumor growth curve (h) and survival rate (i) of the PDX tumor-bearing mice. The mice were treated with 10Gy radiation, GW4869. n = 5~6 for each group. j Representative images (left) and quantifications (right) of immunofluorescence staining of Ki-67 in PDX tissues treated with 10Gy radiation, or radiation plus GW4869. Scale bar: 50 μm. Data are presented as mean with SD of at least three independent experiments; ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ^***p < 0.001; ^****p < 0.0001 from unpaired Student’s t test