Fig. 3

DCLK1 inhibits the infiltration of CD8+ T cells and limits the ICIs efficacy. a Western blotting verifying the knockout of DCLK1 in 4T1 cells. b, c Immunocompetent BALB/c mice (b) and immunocompromised BALB/c nude mice (c) were inoculated with DCLK1-knockout 4T1 cells and the control cells. Tumor growth (left), tumor weight (middle) and size (right) were measured. d The representative images of the gating strategy used to define CD8+ T cells in mouse tumors. e, f Flow cytometry analyzing the percentage of CD8+ T cells (e) and IFN-γ+ CD8+ T cells (f) in subcutaneous tumor tissues from immunocompetent mouse 4T1 model. g Flow cytometry analysis of the proportion of CD8+ T cells in the spleen (upper) and peripheral lymph nodes (lower) after anti-CD8α treatment. h Tumor growth curve (left), tumor weight (middle) and tumor size (right) of immunocompetent 4T1 subcutaneous tumors treated as indicated. (n = 6 per group). i TIDE analysis showing a lower response in TNBC patients with a higher DCLK1 expression (left, 18%, 21/120) than patients with a lower DCLK1 expression (right, 36%, 42/120) in the FUSCC dataset