Fig. 1

Local tumor dormancy before or after cancer therapies is associated with the predominance of infiltrating T effector cells. Female FVBN202 mice (8–10 weeks old) were challenged with neu-overexpressing MMC in the mammary region s.c. (3 × 10⁶ cells/mouse). Three days after challenge, tumor-bearing animals were split into three groups: one group received no treatment (Ctrl); second group received nine daily doses of FAC chemotherapy (10 mg/kg 5-FU + 3 mg/kg Adriamycin + 10 mg/kg Cyclophosphamide, i.p.) without immunotherapy (FAC) or followed by AIT and anti-PD-1 antibody therapy (FAC/AIT). Immunotherapy was started 1 week after the completion of FAC chemotherapy by a single i.v. injection of tumor-reactive immune cells (70 million cells/mouse) followed by five doses of anti-PD-1 antibody (100 mg/kg, every 3 days, i.p.). Animals were sacrificed 5 weeks after tumor challenge. a Tumor growth in the mammary region was measured using a digital caliper. b Expression of Ki67 on Fixable Viability Stain negative (FVS−) neu+ viable MMC cell line, or resected mammary tumors from the Ctrl, FAC, or FAC/AIT groups as percentage or mean fluorescence intensity (MFI). c, d Gated FVS− CD4+ or CD8+ T cells in resected mammary tumors were analyzed for T effector cells (Te, CD44+CD62L−), T effector/memory cells (Tem, CD44+CD62L^low), T central/memory cells (Tcm, CD44+CD62L^high), or T naïve cells (Tn, CD44−CD62L+) at the tumor site