Fig. 1.

Tumor ezrin levels predict increased risk of relapse in high-risk BC patients. a Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of ezrin expression in non-neoplastic breast tissue and tumours with low and high ezrin are shown. b Box and whisker plots of ezrin histo (H)-score (protein levels, TMA) and relative EZR mRNA expression (TCGA) in benign and tumor tissues (p values from Wilcoxon matched-paired rank test). c, d KM plots showing DFS in node positive (N1, panel C) or node positive plus high-risk node negative (N0, panel D) BC patients stratified by median ezrin score. The corresponding 14 multivariate Cox regression analyses (MVA), adjusted for tumour stage, Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) grade, and ER/PR status) are shown below each plot. e Ezrin expression (HALO H-score) in paired primary tumour and lymph node metastases is shown (n=7, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test). f Immunoblot showing elevation of phospho-ezrin (pTERM, activated ezrin) in metastatic variant cell line (LMV) derived from the murine parental cell line EO771 during serial orthotopic injections of lung metastases in C57BL/6 mice. HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval