Fig 2: Comparison of ITGAV expression status by actual IHC and predictive model in overall survival and recurrence-free survival curve. (A) In OS, actual Kaplan-Meier curve of ITGAV status (high or low) and (B) the Kaplan-Meier curve of ITGAV status in the prediction model were shown. (C) Detectability for prediction model of ITGAV status from CT was shown by receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC=0.697). (D) In DFS, actual Kaplan-Meier curve of ITGAV status and (E) the Kaplan-Meier curve of ITGAV status in the prediction model were shown. The high ITGAV group calculated by the prediction model was significantly associated with OS, and was associated with DFS; however, this was not significant. AUC, area under the curve; DFS, disease-free survival; ITGAV, integrin aV; OS, overall survival.

Fig 3: Three-dimensional structures formed by the human breast cancer cell line MCF-10A (non-malignant) shows higher levels of peripheral integrin aV (ITGAV). A) 3D acini (MCF-10A) and tumor spheroids (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) immunostained for integrin aV. B) Fluorescence profile intensity plots of integrin aV of MCF-10A acini (n = 5), MCF-7 tumor-spheroids (n = 4) and MDA-MB-231 tumor-spheroids (n = 4). Scale bar = 25 µm.

Fig 4: Typical ITGAV tissue staining and correlation between IHC expression score of ITGAV and RNA-seq expression. (A) For ITGAV, staining was usually observed in nerve tissue, and the levels of staining in these areas were considered as the control. The staining intensity, and staining area of the tumor interstitium and cancer cells differed from case to case. Magnification, ×160. (B) There was a significant correlation between the RNA-seq expression levels and IHC scores of ITGAV in the tumor tissue (r=0.625, ?=0.600, P=0.039). A score exceeding IHC score of 13 was considered high expression of ITGAV; <13 was considered low expression and =13 was considered high expression. IHC, immunohistochemistry; ITGAV, integrin aV; RNA-seq, RNA sequencing.

Fig 5: Integrin aV is less abundant in a human basal-like breast cancer line in comparison to luminal breast cancer or non-tumoral cells. A) Western blot showing the relative amount of integrin aV in sub confluent monolayer cultures of MCF-10A, MCF-7 and MDA-MB231 cell lines. The basal-like cancer cell line MDA-MB231 expresses 50% less integrin aV than the non-tumoral cell line MCF1-0A. The luminal breast cancer cell line MCF-7 still presented high levels of integrin aV. B) ITGAV mRNA expression analysis in breast cell lines using the online tool Genevestigator revealed a decrease in ITGAV levels for both tumoral cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB231). C) Immunofluorescence of integrin aV (green) in breast cell lines grown as monolayers. Integrin aV fluorescence staining was weaker in the membrane of MDA-MB231 cells. DAPI (blue) was used to stain nuclear DNA. Scale bar = 5 µm.