Table 2.

Overview of some of the biological processes associated with differential expression of our genes of interest.

Gene Symbol	Gene Function
A. Genes differentially expressed in the DCE-MRI enhancement patterns (CP vs. CF)
MTA1	MTA1 is a potential predictor for breast tumor aggressiveness; Is involved in angiogenesis and is a predictor of early disease relapse; (44, 45); MTA1can repress the ESR1 trans-activation function; (46, 47) MTA1 can inactivate the tumor suppressor TP53; (48, 49), and deacetylate and stabilize the hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α) which is a key regulator of angiogenic factors. (50–52) MTA proteins, including MTA1, have been reported as possible set of “master co-regulatory molecules” involved in the carcinogenesis and progression of various malignancies. (47)
PARP6	PARP superfamily is involved in the regulation of angiogenesis, differentiation, proliferation, cell death, tumor transformation and DNA damage recovery. (53, 54); PARP inhibitors can decrease angiogenesis since inhibition of PARP will affect VEGF-induced proliferation and migration. (55, 56)
SULT1A1& SULT1A2	Alterations in the expression of SULT enzymes and their genetic polymorphisms have been reported in lung, prostate, and breast cancer;(57, 58) Several members SULT family are responsible for the sulfation of estrogens, therapeutic estrogenic compounds, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) agents; SULTs play a key role in the metabolism and inactivation of estrogen. (59)
B. Genes differentially expressed in the survival analysis for the IBC patients**
ARPC5L	ARPC5L belongs to the ARPC5 family, and has been implicated in invasion and metastasis in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). (38)
AVEN	Aven is considered a regulator of apoptosis. Resistance to apoptosis is associated with carcinogenesis, tumor progression, and treatment resistance In various tumors such as childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia overexpression of AVEN has been associated with poor prognosis. (60–62)
CDKL2	CDKL2 is a member of a large family of CDC2-related serine/threonine protein kinase. CDC2 overexpression in breast tumors has been associated with infiltrative tumor border pattern and histologic high grade breast carcinomas. (40)
CHST11 & CHST3	CHST11 and CHST3, are involved in the sulfur metabolism pathway. CHST11 mediates 4-O sulfation of chondroitin, whileCHST3 mediates 4-O sulfation of chondroitin. (63) Chondroitin sulfates are involved in breast tumor aggressiveness and metastasis and CHST11 and CHST3 overexpression have been reported to be associated with more aggressive breast tumors. (35)
COL4A4	COL4A4 is a protein that belongs to the type IV collagen family. Overexpression of the type IV collagen family members s have been implicated to be associated with tumor size, higher grade, metastasis and invasion in malignancies such as breast, ovarian, cervical, colorectal and gastric cancers. (64–66)
CTSB	Over expression of CTSB, has reported to be associated with tumor invasiveness and poor patient prognosis in different tumor types including in melanoma, prostate and breast cancers. (67) In inflammatory breast cancer, CTSB over expression has been suggested as a prognosis biomarker associated with poor survival and increased number of positive metastatic lymph nodes. (41)
HYOU1	HYOU1 has been associated with tumor invasiveness and resistance to therapy. HYOU1 suppression also results in increased apoptosis. (68–70)
PRKCA	PRKCA is a member of the Protein kinase C (PKC) family which can play an important role in cell signaling pathways by phosphorylating protein targets. High expression levels of PRKCA has been reported as a potential marker for poor prognosis and associated with breast cancer progression. (71)
RGS16	RGS16 is a member of the RGS super family of proteins which are a class of intracellular signaling regulators. The RGS family has been considered as therapeutic targets, including in breast cancer. (42, 43)
TLN2	In the FAK pathway, FAK and TLN are two key players in matrix-cell adhesion assembly, which is required for cell migration which in turn can result in tumor metastasis and progression. (72, 73)
TNC	TNC is frequently up-regulated in breast cancer and is promoting tumor invasion. TNC has been associated with promoting cell migration, angiogenesis and can acts as a cell survival factor. (39)

^**The complete list of the 45 genes associated with OS is presented in the supplemental data.