Fig. 11

The chronic inflammatory profile of human breast cancer tissue reflects the expression of extracellular carbonic anhydrases and influences their relation to patient survival in HER2-enriched breast cancer. A-D Expression levels for markers of leucocytes (CD45; A) and chronic inflammation (IL1A, IL1B, IL4, IL6, NFKB1, STAT3, CXCL2; B) and the levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFA; C) and transforming growth factor β (TGFB; D) across breast cancer molecular subtypes (n = 108–2053). E–G Expression of extracellular carbonic anhydrases in breast carcinomas characterized either by high immune infiltration (CD45 expression) and low inflammation or by low immune infiltration and high inflammation (n = 98–235). H–O Survival curves for patients with HER2-enriched (H, I, L-O) or Basal-like (J, K) breast cancer (n = 382–738) stratified for inflammatory markers and expression of extracellular carbonic anhydrases. The ticks on the curves indicate censored subjects. The chronic inflammation signature was calculated as the average z-score for IL1A, IL1B, IL4, IL6, NFKB1, STAT3, and CXCL2. Data were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Šidák’s post-tests (panels A–D), unpaired two-tailed Student’s t tests (panels E–G) or log-rank tests (panel H–O). CA, carbonic anhydrase