Fig. 2

CTLA4-related gene expression in TN-BCSCs. A Expression heatmap of the DEGs between TN-BCSCs and B.C.s (CD44⁻ and CD24⁺). The red indicates the upregulated expression, and the green indicates the downregulated expression. B Intersection between DEGs in TN-BCSC and CTLA4-related genes (CTLA4 Gene Term). C Expression distribution plot of CTLA4-related DEGs in TN-BCSCs in eight cell subsets. D Violin plots of FBXO9, CHI3L1 and MYC. E The correlation between CHI3L1 and CTLA4 expression in B.C. was obtained from the TIMER2.0 database. The result is corrected by tumor purity. F and G The CHI3L1 expression in BCSCs obtained from MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-453 cells and the parental cells of BCSCs as measured by RT-qPCR and Western blot. H The expression of CHI3L1 in the supernatant of conditioned medium of BCSCs obtained from MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-453 cells and the parental cells of BCSCs as determined by ELISA. ^ns p > 0.05, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. Cell experiments were repeated three times