Fig. 3: The amount of TβRII on circulating EVs distinguishes patients with breast cancer from healthy donors.

a FACS analysis (left panel) of the percentage of TβRII⁺ crEVs and ELISA (right panel) of TβRII on crEVs in plasma samples from healthy donors (n = 20 samples) and patients with breast cancer (n = 46 samples). The number of particles used in each FACS-based assessment is the same (10,000 events per sample). b Nanosight analysis of the concentration (left) and size (right) of the TβRII⁺ crEVs in plasma from healthy donors (n = 20 samples) and patients with breast cancer (n = 46 samples). c Immunoblot analysis of crEVs in plasma from healthy donors (n = 14 samples, H1-H14) and patients with breast cancer (n = 13 samples, BC1-BC13). The protein loading of EVs of healthy and BC samples was equal. d FACS (left panel) and ELISA (right panel) of TβRII⁺ crEVs in breast cancer patients of different subtypes (Luminal A, n = 6 samples; Luminal B, n = 9 samples; HER2⁺, n = 13 samples; TNBC, triple-negative breast cancer, n = 18 samples). e FACS (left) and ELISA (right) of TβRII⁺ crEVs in patients with no metastasis (n = 22 samples) and patients with distant metastasis (n = 24 samples). f ROC curve analysis for the indicated parameters in patients with breast cancer (n = 46 samples) compared to healthy donors (n = 20 samples). g Kaplan-Meier curves (log-rank test) displaying overall (left panel) and metastasis free (right panel) survival of patients with a high (>46%, FACS-detected level) TβRII⁺ crEVs (green), and with a low (<46%, FACS-detected level) TβRII⁺ crEVs (blue). *p < 0.05 (two-tailed Student’s t test a, b, d, e or two-way ANOVA f, g). Data are analyzed of three independent experiments and shown as mean ± SD a, b, d, e. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.