Animals and tumor model establishment

All animal studies were conducted under an Animal Care and Use Committee approved protocol. Tumors were established by inoculating 1 × 10⁶ VA-ES-BJ cells in 0.05 ml of Hanks balanced salt solution bilaterally into the flanks of six to eight-week-old female athymic Balb/c (nu/nu) mice purchased from Charles River (Wilmington, MA, USA).