Figure 1.
Immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarray sections.
Upper panel demonstrating ERK phosphorylation levels (score 0–3) in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Lower panel demonstrating SMAα expression (score 0–3) in CAFs. Scale bar represents 200 um. (brown: positive antibody staining, blue/pale pink: haematoxylin/eosin for nucleus and cytoplasm staining, respectively).
Table 1.
Prognostic and molecular parameters.
Figure 2.
Recurrence-free survival according to CAF-pERK level (A-C) and CAF-SMAα expression (D-F) of patients in cohort I (ERα-positive patients). Plots represent prognostic (A, D) or tamoxifen treatment-predictive information (B, C and E, F) (P-value: Univariate Cox regression, HR: Hazard Ratio, CI: Confidence Interval, RFS: Recurrence-Free Survival).
Table 2.
Multivariate interaction analysis for ERK phosphorylation.
Figure 3.
Western blot of primary breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs).
CAFs are derived from patients with ERα-positive breast cancer and have been cultured in serumfree media to allow detection of basal ERK phosphorylation levels (lower band: ERK2 42kDa, upper band: ERK1 44kDa).