Fig. 4

Basal glycolytic activity is heterogeneous in patient-derived TNBC organoid models. A Schematic representation of the experimental workflow for organoid initiation and culturing from treatment-naive TNBC patients. B, C Representative brightfield pictures B and molecular characteristics C of patient-derived TNBC organoid models BCO17 and IDC031. Scale bar: 50 µm. D Representative immunohistochemical staining for ER, PR, HER2 and Ki67 in BCO17 organoids and matching primary tumor tissue. Scale bars: 17.3 µm (organoids); 50 µm (primary tissue). E–F Glucose consumption (E) and lactate secretion (F) in BCO17 and IDC031 organoids. G, H ECAR profile upon sequential treatment with 20 mM glucose, 1 µM oligomycin and 50 mM 2-DG (G) and glucose-dependent ECAR (H) in BCO17 and IDC031 organoids. Data are plotted as the means ± SEM from n = 3–6 cultures, performed each time with ≥ 3 technical replicates (E–H). Significance was determined by Student’s t test (E, F, and G). *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001