Liposomal clodronate treatment impairs tumor-driven splenic erythropoiesis.

<p>(A) Hematological parameters in control mice injection with liposome (ctrl-lip), control mice injection with liposomal clodronate (ctrl-clod), 4T1 tumor-bearing mice injection with liposome (4T1 tumor-lip) and 4T1 tumor-bearing mice injection with liposomal clodronate (4T1 tumor-clod). Tumor cells were implanted into the right fourth mammary gland of female BALB/c mice (day 0). After tumor cells injection, mice were intravenous (i.v.) injected with liposomal clodronate 100 μl on days 7 and 18. On day 28, blood was collected from the mice, and RBC counts, Hb concentrations and hematocrit were measured on the automated blood cell analyzer. All data are expressed as the mean ± SEM; n = 6 mice per group for one out of three independent experiments. **p < 0.01,***p < 0.001. (B) Spleens from ctrl-lip, ctrl-clod, 4T1 tumor-lip and 4T1 tumor-clod mice were collected and photographed on day 20 after tumor cells implantation. (C) The percentage of CD71 and Ter119 positive cells of spleen in 4T1 tumor-lip and 4T1 tumor-clod mice. Each bar represents the mean (±SEM n = 4) of triplicate determinations. **p < 0.01 versus 4T1 tumor-lip. (D) Representative examples of CD71 and Ter119 profiles from the spleen of 4T1 tumor-lip and 4T1 tumor-clod mice. (E) Quantification of the number of CD71 positive or Ter119 positive cells are shown (n = 4 per group). *p < 0.05, **p <0.01 versus 4T1 tumor-lip. (F) The numbers of BFU-E and CFU-E derived colonies from the spleen of 4T1 tumor-lip and 4T1 tumor-clod mice. Each bar represents the mean (±SEM n = 4) of triplicate determinations. *p< 0.05 versus 4T1 tumor-lip.