Fig. 4.

Auto-reactive immune responses in primary breast cancer patients in correlation with intratumoral cytokine concentrations. a Average concentrations of IFN-α, TGFβ, IL-10, and IL-12 in primary breast tissue. Patients are grouped according to the presence (+) or absence (−) of respective auto-reactive BMTCs. b Average concentrations of IFN-α, TGFβ, IL 10, and IL 12 in primary breast tissue. Patients are grouped according to the presence (+) or absence (−) of respective humoral autoimmunity. Presence of humoral autoimmunity was defined as at least one pathological finding within the tested antibodies (ANA, ANCA, TRAb, RhF, or TgAb). Mean ± SEM values are shown. *Significant (P < 0.05) difference between groups by two-sided Student’s t-test; n.s. not significant