Fig. 2.

USP22 is related to CSC properties and an unfavorable prognostic outcome in TNBC patients: A USP22 protein levels in healthy mammary tissue and different BC subtype biopsies (source: Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium-CPTAC, retrieved from: http://ualcan.path.uab.edu/). B Correlation of USP22 protein expression with the stemness score in several TNBC and HER2⁺-BC biopsies (source: Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium-CPTAC, retrieved from: https://www.cbioportal.org/). C GSEA of the high-throughput RNA sequencing data from basal-like BC (BLBC) and HER2⁺-BC patients strongly enrich the "BOQUEST_STEM_CELL_UP" gene signature in USP22^high-expressing patients. NES: Normalized enrichment score. D USP22 expression significantly correlates with a poor survival outcome in BLBC patients (source for C-D: https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/). E–F Patient survival analysis indicates a high probability of disease recurrence in TNBC (E) and HER2⁺-BC patients (F) with high expression of USP22 (source: https://www.rocplot.org/). G-H Immunohistochemical detection of USP22 in treatment-naive primary (n = 23) and lymph node metastasis (n = 8) biopsies showed an increase of USP22 levels in Ki67^high compared to the Ki67^low primary tumors (G, lower panel). In addition, USP22 expression was particularly increased in lymph node metastases compared to primary tumors (H, upper panel), as well as in paired metastasis biopsies compared to their primary tumor counterparts (H, lower panel). White scale bar: 100 µm. Statistics: B: Pearson correlation analysis; G: Student t-test; H (lower-left panel): non-parametric Mann–Whitney test; H (lower-right panel): paired t-test. ***p<0.005