Fig. 6

Clinical implications of VM in HER2+ breast cancer. a Diagram showing the process of selection of HER2+ breast cancer patients. Beige colored boxes represent excluded patients. b, c Examples of VM channels consisting of CD31-negative PAS-positive cells (black arrowheads) in HER2+ breast tumors. The white arrowheads denote CD31-positive PAS-positive capillaries. Inset (b): a magnified image of a VM channel. Scale bar, 100 μm. d The number of VM channels observed in a section of surgically removed tumors. P values were calculated by Dunn’s multiple comparison test. Broken lines depict median values. e Comparison of the number of VM channels present in tumors obtained before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in the NAC without Tzm group (left) and the NAC with Tzm group (right). P values were calculated by the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test