Fig. 3 (a1) DSA angiography which showed tumor staining during GSMs-TACE in patients with HCC. The feeding artery came from the right hepatic artery. (a2) after GSMs embolization, the blood flow velocity of the feeding artery slowed down. DSA angiography after embolization showed that the tumor staining basically disappeared. (b1) The preoperative abdominal enhanced CT scan of one patient with stage BCLC B before operation showed that the right lobe of the liver was not homogeneously enhanced in the arterial phase. (b2) 4 days after GSMs-TACE, there were honeycomb-like low-density changes in tumors shown on CT plain scan. (b3) abdominal enhanced CT of the same patient 1 month after operation indicated that most of the tumors in the liver were liquefied and necrotic without progression. C. The Treg cell proportion in peripheral blood of one patient before, at 10 and 30 days after GSMs-TACE. (c1) The Treg cell proportion in peripheral blood before GSMs-TACE was 13.28%; (c2) The Treg cell proportion in peripheral blood at 10 days after GSMs-TACE was 8.56%; (c3) The Treg cell proportion in peripheral blood at 30 days after GSMs-TACE was 10.60%. (d1) DSA angiography of one patient with liver cancer at BCLC stage B during GSMs-TACE showed that the blood supply artery came from the right hepatic artery. After embolized with gelatin sponge particles, the blood flow velocity of the right hepatic artery slowed down. (d2) DSA angiography indicated that the tumor staining basically disappeared after operation. (d3) the plain abdominal CT of this patient after operation showed that the right hepatic lobe tumor had honeycomb liquefying necrosis and the right portal vein tumor thrombus showed low density necrosis. (d4) enhanced abdominal MRI at 1 month after operation showed that the tumor necrosis area in the right lobe of the liver had no enhancement, and the tumor thrombus in the right branch of the portal vein had necrosis.
3.5 Flow cytometry of Treg cells in peripheral blood of one HCC patient before and after GSMs-TACE
Representative profiles of high CD25 and low CD127 expressions in the peripheral blood of one patient with HCC are shown in Fig.3c. The Treg cells proportion on the 10th day after GSMs-TACE was significantly lower than that of the preoperative level, and the proportion on the 30th day after GSMs-TACE was increased but still lower than that of the preoperative level.