Micelle size measure.

<p>Size distribution of PEALCa micelles before and after loading of SPIO(A). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of SPIO-loaded micelle (B). The scale bars represent about 50 nm.</p

Illustration of PEG-P(Asp-DIP)-P(Lys-Ca):Drawing of pH-tunable drug release (A) and ¹H-NMR (300 MHz) spectra of PEG-P(Asp-DIP)-P(Lys-Ca) (B).

<p>Illustration of PEG-P(Asp-DIP)-P(Lys-Ca):Drawing of pH-tunable drug release (A) and ¹H-NMR (300 MHz) spectra of PEG-P(Asp-DIP)-P(Lys-Ca) (B).</p

Boxplots of FVF values for the IFT, NGTFat and NGTLean groups.

<p>Significant differences was found between IGT group and NGTLean group (p = 0.004), as well as the NGTFat group and NGTLean group (p = 0.006). But there was no significant difference between IGT group and NGTFat group (p = 0.359).</p

Results of phantom experiment.

<p>The bottle on the lower left side is filled with pure water (fat content: 0%), and the upper right one is filled with 100% peanut oil, while others have fat content ranging from 10% to 90% in sequence. In the fat phase image, the higher the fat content is, the higher signal intensity can be seen. But in water phase, the signal intensity of each bottle turned opposite to that of fat phase. The fat volume fraction (FVF) map demonstrates clear differences for different amounts of fat and water through the change of color.</p

Intracellular drug delivery and release efficiency measurements.

<p>Quantitative analysis of FDA-positive LoVo cells by flow cytometry after incubation with FDA-SPIO-PEALCa (A). Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images (1000 ×) of LoVo cells after treated with FDA-SPIO-PEALCa (B). The lysosomes and nuclei were stained by red and blue fluorescent probe, respectively. <i>In vitro</i> FDA released from PEALCa micelle at 37 °C in HCl (pH 5.0) and PBS (pH 7.4) (C).</p

Additional file 1 of Preoperative assessment of peripheral vascular invasion of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma based on high-resolution MRI

Additional File 1: Non-HR-MRI scan sequence and parameters

Table_1_Clinical implications of immune checkpoint markers and immune infiltrates in patients with thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms.docx

The potential response of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms (T-NEN) is largely unknown and full of great expectations. The expression of immune checkpoint molecules and immune infiltrates greatly determine the response to ICB. However, studies regarding the immune landscape in T-NEN are scarce. This work was aimed to characterize the immune landscape and its association with clinical characteristics in T-NEN. The expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand, programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), and the density of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), monocytes, and granulocytes were determined by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining on tumor tissues from T-NEN. Immune landscapes were delineated and correlated with clinicopathological factors. We found that T-NEN with increased immune cell infiltration and enhanced expression of PD-1/PD-L1 tended to have restricted tumor size and less metastases. A higher density of CD8+ TILs was associated with a significantly lower rate of bone metastasis. In addition, we presented three cases of T-NEN who progressed after multiple lines of therapies and received ICB for alternative treatment. ICB elicited durable partial responses with satisfactory safety in two patients with atypical carcinoid, but showed resistance in 1 patient with large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. This innovative study delineated for the first time the heterogeneous immune landscape in T-NEN and identified CD8+ TILs as a potential marker to predict bone metastasis. An “immune-inflamed” landscape with the presence of TILs predominated in T-NEN, making T-NEN a potentially favorable target for ICB treatment. Further judicious designs of “tailor-made” clinical trials of ICB in T-NEN are urgently needed.</p

Anticancer efficacy evaluation <i>in vivo</i>.

<p>Representative haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining images (200 ×) of tumor sections from the mice of different groups(A). Tumor growth curves of the LoVo tumor bearing mice treated with PTX/SPIO/PEALCa, Taxol or PBS (B).</p

FVF maps of two typical subjects from IGT group (A) and NGTLean group (B).

<p>A: a 58 years old female who was diagnosed as IGT (BMI = 31.85), with a mean FVF of 24.23%. The fat phase and FVF map demonstrated that the deposition of fat is homogeneous. B: a 50 years old female (BMI = 23.13) with a mean FVF of 4.15%. The color of the liver in case B is much darker than that in case A, indicating a lower fat content.</p

Correlation of actual fat volume fraction (FVF) of the water/fat phantoms against the mean fat fraction computed from Dixon technique.

<p>The best-fit-line was displayed. (r2 = 0.994, p = 0.000).</p