Fig. 6

Mannose sensitises PMI KO HNSCC tumourspheres to radiation. A) Confocal fluorescence (Image-iT™ Green Hypoxia Dye and Hoechst staining) and brightfield imaging of size matched (~ 600 μm) FaDu (WT/KO) tumourspheres pre-treated with mannose (20 mM). B) Diameter ratio of the necrotic/hypoxic core in (i) unirradiated or (ii) 6 Gy irradiated FaDu (WT/KO) tumourspheres treated +/- mannose (20 mM for 48 h for short-term exposure and sustained exposure to mannose for long-term treatment). C i & ii) Schematic diagram illustrating treatment scheduling for both WT and PMI KO FaDu tumoursphere models. D i) Representative images of unirradiated WT and PMI KO FaDu tumourspheres exposed to short-term (48 h) and long-term (sustained) mannose treatment. D ii) Dynamic growth data of unirradiated WT and PMI KO FaDu tumoursphere models. D iii) Differential tumoursphere diameter on Day 11 for WT and PMI KO tumourspheres treated with mannose for short-term (48 h) or long-term (sustained). E i) Representative images of irradiated (6 Gy) WT and PMI KO FaDu tumourspheres with short-term (48 h) and long-term (sustained) mannose treatment. E ii) Dynamic growth data of unirradiated WT and PMI KO FaDu tumoursphere models. E iii) Differential tumoursphere diameter on Day 11 for irradiated WT and PMI KO tumourspheres treated with mannose for short-term (48 h) or long-term (sustained). Data are presented as mean ± SD of three independent biological replicates. *p ≤ 0.05 (One-way ANOVA- Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (B, D &E)