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. 2021 Aug 4;13(16):3922. doi: 10.3390/cancers13163922

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Quiescence-Associated Signature Gene Expression is Elevated in Oestrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancers with Low Proliferative Activity. (A) Venn diagram illustrating selection of the 22 quiescence-associated signature genes based on having both high functional and prognostic significance in gene set enrichment or network topological analysis and proportional hazards regression analysis. (B) Correlation analysis of quiescence-associated signature expression scores for breast cancer cell lines with their respective published proliferation indices determined by Ki67 expression in 3D culture [42]. Oestrogen receptor-negative (ER−) cell lines (shown in blue, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient ρ = −0.0545, p = 0.90) and oestrogen receptor-positive (ER+) cell lines (shown in red, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient ρ = −0.787, p = 0.01) are plotted independently. (C) Comparison of integrated expression score for the 22 gene quiescence-associated signature between patient tumours with high and low proliferation rates (pre-determined by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre using the ERα, HER2 and AURKA three-gene classifier) in ER+ and ER− METABRIC cohorts (Wilcoxon rank-sum test, **** = p ≤ 0.0001).