Fig 2: Loss of Cemip Enhances Reactive Adipogenesis(A) Representative histological images of skin from mice at day 0 and 3 days after infection with S. aureus. Tissue was stained with H&E. Brackets delineate dermal region occupied by adipocytes. Scale bar, 50 μm.(B) Quantification of the adipose tissue thickness indicated scale bar (n = 8 for control and Cemip−/− infection mice/group).(C-E) qRT-PCR of the relative abundance of transcripts for (C) Pref1, (D) PPARγ, and (E) Adipoq as normalized to β-actin (n = 4 for normal condition, n = 8 for infection mice/group).(F) Flow cytometry analysis of single-cell suspensions from the skin showing expression of PEGFRα from control, Cemip−/−, control infection, and Cemip−/− infection. Cells were gated on CD31-negative, CD45-negative, and SCA-1-positive.(G) Statistical comparison of the percentages of the cells in the indicated gates shown in (F).All error bars indicate mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 (t test).

Fig 3: Interaction between BMECs and HCC cells enhances tumor growth in the spine. (A) si-CX3CL1 was transfected into BMECs to construct CX3CL1low BMECs. Transwell assays were used to examine recruitment of BMECs co-cultured with or without HMCC97H cells. The number of the recruited cells was quantified. n=3. Cell recruitment were analyzed using ANOVA test. (B) Cell vitality of BMECs was assessed using CCK-8 assay; n=3. Data were analyzed using ANOVA followed by Tukey's test. (C) Tumor size was measured based on the volume. n=5. Scale bar, 5 mm. Data were analyzed using an unpaired t-test. (D) Samples from 2 groups were examined using immunofluorescence. Magnification, ×20. The result was analyzed using an unpaired t-test. Gray bars represent the CX3CL1nor BMECs group and black bars represent the CX3CL1low BMECs group (E) Flow cytometry revealed the percentage and number of F4/80+CD11b+ cells; n=5. (F) Flow cytometry was used for detecting expression of M2 macrophage surface markers, CX3CR1, MRC1 and CD163; n=5. Cells were selected based on higher expression of CD45 for macrophages. Subsequently, CD11b and F4/80 expression were used for further characterization of macrophages. FACS (fluorescent-activated cell sorting) data were analyzed using a Kruskal Wallis test followed by Dunn's non-parametric post hoc test. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; BMECs, bone marrow endothelial cells; si, small interfering; CCK-8, Cell Counting kit-8; CX3CL1, C-X3-C motif chemokine ligand 1.

Fig 4: Twelve-week HFD feeding impaired DCs function. (A) Flow cytometry scatter plots showing the gating for CD11c+MHCII+CD64− cDCs and CD11c+MHCII+CD64+ moDCs among total CD45+ leukocytes. (B) Quantification of cDCs and moDCs per heart of ND- and HFD-treated mice 7 days after MI. (C,D) MHCII, CD40, and CD86 MFI level in cDCs (C) and moDCs (D) of mLNs isolated from mice after ND and HFD feeding. N=6 to 8/group. All error bars denote the mean ± SEM. *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001. MHCII, major histocompatibility complex class II; ND, normal diet; HFD, high-fat diet; DCs, dendritic cells; cDCs, conventional DCs; moDCs, monocyte-derived DCs; MFI, mean fluorescence intensity; mLNs, mediastinal lymph nodes; MI, myocardial infarction; SEM, standard error of mean.

Fig 5: Evaluation of the wound healing process treated with ECM scaffolds.a Workflow for evaluating large-scale wound healing. b Surgical processes for skin splinted excisional wound model. c Residual wound area at 3, 5, 7, 14, and 28 days, black dashed circles denoting the original wound area. d corresponding analysis of residual wound (Data are presented as mean ± SD, n = 4 biologically independent samples, two-tailed t-test, Day3 **p = 0.002; Day5 p = 0.104; Day7 **p = 0.001; Day14 ***p = 0.000444). e Representative H&E images of two groups at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. f Quantitative evaluation of the gap width of neo-epithelium (Data are presented as mean ± SD, n = 4 biologically independent samples, two-tailed t-test, Day7 **p = 0.002; Day14 *p = 0.011). g Representative IF images of nascent HFs within the ECM_LW group, stained for KRT17 (green) and TWIST2 (red), Ki67 (red), and SCD1 (green), respectively. Abbreviations: HF, hair follicle; HG, hair germ; Dc, dermal condensate; SG, sebaceous gland. h Histologic quantification of de novo HFs on POD28 (Data are presented as mean ± SD, n = 5 biologically independent samples, two-tailed t-test, ***p = 0.000141). i Bulk-RNA sequencing analysis of ECM_LW versus Ctrl_LW mice on POD7 (n = 3 for each group). Heatmap (left) showing hierarchical clustering of differentially expressed genes (p value < 0.05 & |log2FC | > 1) between two groups, and corresponding gene set enrichment analysis (right) showing the enriched terms in ECM_LW (top) versus Ctrl_LW (bottom) groups. j Proportions of T cells (CD45+CD3+) and macrophages (CD45+CD3-F4/80+CD68+) cell populations in the wound environment on POD7, determined by flow cytometry (% = the number of target cells / the number of all single live cells) (Data are presented as mean ± SD, n = 3 biologically independent samples, two-tailed t-test, T cells *p = 0.013; Macrophages *p = 0.016). p value: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001.