Angiogenesis gene expression subgroups correlate with survival.

<p><b>A–D</b>, Survival curves for tumor samples that had available survival data. A log-rank test was used to determine p-values. Triple negative (TN) status was associated with worse prognosis for 572 patients with survival data (A). Higher tumor stage correlated with worse prognosis in 508 patients with available stage and survival data (B). Non-TNBC patients with low PC4a scores had poor prognoses similar to the TNBC patients (C). Patients in the HER2-enriched PAM50 subtype had significantly poorer prognoses if they also had low PC4a scores (D). <b>E–F</b>, Schematic of VEGF/semaphorin competition in the tumor microenvironment. The gene expression patterns of the different subgroups of TNBC and other cancers suggest different regulation of pro- and anti-angiogenesis pathways. The case with high expression of VEGFA and low SEMA3B, which corresponds to the high PC4a group, results in increased signaling through VEGF receptors such as VEGFR2 (blue). Most TNBC fit this profile, although many non-TNBC did also and these showed decreased 5-year survival similar to TNBC (C). Lower expression of VEGFA with high SEMA3B, corresponding to the low PC4a group, results in reduced signaling through VEGF receptors and more signaling through semaphorin receptors such as PLXNA1 (green). Note that these schematics only consider receptor expression on endothelial cells; signaling by plexins or VEGFRs on tumor cells may also play a significant role.