Fig. 6: Plasma exMSMO1 as a predictive biomarker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy of BC.

a Heatmap of different exLRs expressions between pCR (n = 24) and non-pCR (n = 34) groups. b KEGG pathway enrichment analysis for the differentially expressed exLRs of (A). c The steroid biosynthesis pathway was enriched in the non-pCR group by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). d Comparison of exMSMO1 between pCR and non-pCR groups. e ROC for the performance of exMSMO1 in predictive neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment efficacy of BC. f Higher expression of MSMO1 in BC tumor tissue compared to adjacent normal in the TCGA database. g Kaplan–Meier survival analysis (log-rank test) of disease free survival of BC patients with low (n = 157) or high (n = 138) MSMO1 expression. h MDA-MB-231 cells made deficient in MSMO1 by the siRNAs pool (siMSMO1-1, siMSMO1-2) were treated with the indicated chemotherapy drugs. Viability data from 3 independent experiments were normalized to control–transfected cells. i MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with MSMO1 siRNAs pool followed with PAX or DOX for 24 h, and apoptosis was analyzed with the flow cytometry assay. h, i Only significant differences were shown. Each column represents averaged results. Bars, SDs. j Enrichment plots of the hallmark mTORC1 signaling pathway in MSMO1 deficient cells compared to controls, as identified by GSEA. k MDA-MB-231 cells were transfected with the MSMO1 siRNAs pool. Cell lysates were immunoblotted as shown. Abbreviations: ROC receiver operating characteristic, AUC area under the curve, SD standard deviation, CI confidence interval, DMSO dimethylsulfoxide, PAX paclitaxel, DOX doxorubicin. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001.