Fig. 4

Tumor cell death and immunostimulation induced by nanoinhibitor in vitro. A Pyroptosis induced by different treatments. The top-right images are shown at twofold magnification. B Western blot analysis of pyroptosis-related proteins (the canonical pathway, GSDMD, Caspase 1) level. C Heat map showing differentially expressed genes related to pyroptosis. D-F GSEA plots of differentially expressed genes enriched in nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor signaling pathway (D), myeloid dendritic cell activation (E), chemokine signaling pathway (F). G Illustration of pyroptosis by combined therapy of nanoinhibitor and 43 °C heating. EGCG, epigallocatechin gallate. HSPs, heat shock proteins. GSDM, gasdermin. DC, dendritic cell. H, I ELISA for IL-1β (H) and LDH (I) release of tumor cells after different treatments. J Extracellular ATP level of tumor cells after different treatment. K Flow cytometry of in vitro DCs maturation (CD80⁺CD86⁺, gated on CD11c.⁺) proportion (%) after incubation with CT26 cells with different treatments. Casp1_p20, cleaved caspase 1. LPS is regarded as the positive control group. LPS, Lipopolysaccharide. **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001