Animal studies

Male BALB/c athymic nude mice (5-6 weeks old and weighing 18-20 g) were purchased from the Jiesijie Animal Center (Shanghai, China). To establish the gastric cancer xenograft model, 2 × 10⁶ stable CD73-knockdown and sh-Ctrl gastric cancer cells were suspended in 100 μl PBS and inoculated subcutaneously into the flanks of nude mice. After 4 weeks, the mice were sacrificed, and the tumors were excised and subjected for further analysis. These experiments were performed in full accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health, and all the animal experiments were approved by the Animal Experimental Ethics Committee.