GoKawiila, Western blot analysis of FAP protein expression in cardiac tissue at days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 post-MI. b, Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of Fap mRNA level in heart and major organs at baseline and indicated time points post-MI, normalized to sham-operated hearts. c, Western blot analysis of FAP protein expression in hearts at day 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 post-I/R. n = 6 mice per group in a–c. d, Immunofluorescence staining demonstrating co-localization of FAP (green) with vimentin+ fibroblasts (red) in peri-infarct regions at days 3 and 7 post-I/R. Nuclei, DAPI (blue). Scale bars, 50 μm. e, f, Representative M-mode echocardiograms and quantification of EF%, FS%, LVIDd and LVIDs at days 1 and 28 after I/R in mice treated with iCDCs on day 1 (D1), day 3 (D3) or day 7 (D7). n = 8 mice in iCDC (D1) and iCDC (D3), n = 9 mice in other three groups. g, Sirius Red staining and fibrosis quantification at day 28 post-I/R. n = 6 mice per group. Scale bar, 2 mm. h–j, Dose-response analysis comparing low-dose (1.5 × 106) and high-dose (3.0 × 106) iCDC therapy after I/R. Representative echocardiograms, functional quantification and fibrosis analysis are shown. Sham, n = 7 mice; I/R, n = 11 mice; iCDC Low, n = 10 mice; iCDC High, n = 11 mice; fibrosis, n = 6 mice per group. Scale bar, 2 mm. k, l, Flow cytometry and ELISA validation of engineered DC phenotypes and IL-10/CTLA4-Ig secretion in culture (n = 3 biological replicates). m–o, Ex vivo fluorescence imaging of DiR-labelled DCs with quantification (n = 3 mice per group). p, Flow cytometry validation of FAP scFv expression in cultured WTDC, VecDC, CPIDC, and iCDC. q, r, Representative M-mode echocardiograms and quantification of LVIDd and LVIDs at day 3 and day 28 post-MI. n = 10 mice in Sham group, and n = 15 mice in other four groups. s, Kaplan-Meier survival curves for MI mice treated with VecDC or iCDC. n = 29 mice in MI group, and n = 25 mice in VecDC and iCDC groups. t, u, Representative M-mode echocardiograms and quantification of LVIDd and LVIDs at 3 days, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks post-I/R. Sham, n = 8 mice; I/R, n = 11 mice; VecDC, n = 10 mice; iCDC, n = 10 mice. v, w, Immunofluorescence (n = 6 mice per group) and transcriptomic analyses showing enhanced angiogenesis in iCDC-treated hearts. Data are shown as mean ± s.e.m. (b, f, i, l, n, q) or mean ± s.d. (a, c, g, j, t, u). All statistical tests are two-sided; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test (a, c, g, j, l, u), two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test (b, f, i, q, t), and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis (r). Source data for immunoblots are provided in Supplementary Fig. 1.
Source data