Fig 2: Genomic analysis of the TCGA breast cancer cohort. (A) The oncoprint illustrates YAP1 expression in two groups of samples annotated based on the stromal score signature. (B) Comparing the expression of YAP1 between samples with high-stromal index (HSI) and low-stromal index (LSI) indicating that samples with HSI expressed a high level of YAP1. (C) A High EMT status is enriched in samples with the HSI status and high level of YAP1 at the protein level. (D) Correlation coefficient analysis between the expression of YAP1 and classical EMT markers (VIM, CDH1), stemness marker (CD440, and immunosuppressive marker (PD-L1). The results show a negative association between YAP1 and CDH1 and a positive correlation with CD44, VIM, and PD-L1. (E) Association between the protein expression of YAP1 and metastatic stages in samples with a HSI and LSI score, showing enrichment of an adverse stage of metastasis in samples with high YAP1 expression and HSI score.

Fig 3: Assessing the migration and invasion inhibitory effects of PFD on MDA-MB-231 carcinoma cells and CAFs. (A) Tumor spheroids derived from MDA-MB-231 show a significant reduction in the expression of EMT marker VIM (scale bar: 100 µm). (B) The schematic image of invasion and migration assay performed in the 3D microfluidic device in which MDA-MB-231 and CAFs are injected in side channels. The migration of cells was monitored for three days after seeding. (C) A representative bright-field image of migration of CAFs and MDA-MB-231 in the presence and absence of PFD highlight that PFD significantly suppressed the migration of both cells during 72 h. (scale bar: 200 µm). (D,E) The quantitative analysis of migration distance for CAFs (D) and MDA-MB-231 cells (E) indicated that PFD did not significantly suppress the migration of CAFs after 72 h; however, in comparison with the control group, a reduction was observed. In the case of MDA-MB-231 cells, PFD significantly suppressed the invasion and migration of these cells after 48 and 72 h. ** p < 0.002 using the Student t-test, *** p < 0.0002 using ANOVA.