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Article History

Received: 30 January 2026

Accepted: 13 May 2026

First Online: 28 May 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: All experiments involving human samples and animals were conducted in accordance with institutional and national guidelines. Human specimens were obtained under a protocol approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the University of Oklahoma Health Campus (IRB# 15066), and informed consent was obtained from all participants. The use of the human specimens for this study was approved under IRB #15587. All animal studies were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (IACUC# 25-029-SCHI) and conducted in accordance with the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The maximal tumor burden permitted under the approved protocol was 2000 mm³. Tumor growth was monitored regularly, and this predefined maximal tumor size was not exceeded in any experimental animal. Humane endpoints were applied in all cases in accordance with approved guidelines.

Consent for publication: All authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and consent to its publication.

Competing interests: CWH is the co-founder of COARE Holdings, Inc. The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.