Fig. 5

Simvastatin NPs remodel tumor microenvironment in fibrotic HCC. A HE staining of tissue features from HCC mice with various treatments. Yellow dotted line indicates the border between normal liver and tumor tissue. The left side is non-tumor liver tissue and right side is tumor tissue. Representative images are shown. Scale bar stands for 50 μm. B Masson trichrome (MT) staining shown together with αSMA fluorescence staining in liver tissues. Data are presented as mean ± SD. Scale bar in MT image stands for 20 μm, in IF image stands for 50 μm. C LYVE1 and CD31 expression by fluorescence staining shown together with LSEC feature using SEM in liver tissues. The quantification of porosity and fenestration of LSEC is shown (n = 5). Scale bar in IF image stands for 50 μm, in SEM image stands for 1 μm. D Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of Klf2 and Nos3 in LSECs extracted from liver tissues intervened with various treatments (n = 5). E The fluorescence staining of LYVE1 and CD31. Scale bar stands for 50 μm. F NKT cell frequency in liver tissues detected by flow cytometry (n = 5). G CD69⁺ and IFN-γ⁺ levels of hepatic NKT cells detected by flow cytometry (n = 5). H mRNA expression of chemokines and cytokines detected by real-time PCR in tumors in various treatment groups (n = 5). I The average number of apoptosis cells per high-power field (HPF) detected by TUNEL immune fluorescence staining. Scale bar stands for 50 μm. J Scheme of immune cell depletion study and tumor growth curves of Hepa1-6 tumor treated with simvastatin NP after anti-CD1d, CD4or CD8 intraperitoneal injection (n = 5). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, n.s. = not significant