Fig. 3

HOXC8 expression is reduced in breast CSC and breast cancer clinical samples. a Expression of HOXC8 in CSC sorted as CD44⁺/CD24^low/- cell population as determined by TaqMan® qRT-PCR. Results are presented as relative fold expression relative to RPLP0 and HMEC used as calibrator (n = 3–4). Relative fold expression levels were analysed by One-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. b Expression of HOXC8 in unsorted cell lines as determined by TaqMan® qRT-PCR. Results are presented as relative fold expression relative to RPLP0 and HMEC used as calibrator (n = 3–4). Relative fold expression levels were analysed by One-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons test. ***P < 0.001. c Expression of HOXC8 in patient tumour tissue determined by RNA-Seq in the breast TCGA dataset [29, 30]. Statistical analysis was performed by Bioconductor-edgeR. ***P < 0.001. d Expression of HOXC8 in patient tumour tissue classified according to hormone receptor status as determined by RNA-Seq in the breast TCGA dataset. Statistical analysis was performed by Bioconductor-edgeR. **P < 0.01, ER⁺PR⁺HER2⁺ (n = 115), ER⁺PR⁺HER2⁻ (n = 408), ER⁻PR⁻HER2⁻ (n = 128). e Expression of HOXC8 in patient tumour tissue determined by microarray analysis of the breast cancer METABRIC dataset access through the OASIS software [33, 34]. Statistical analysis was performed by Unpaired Student’s t-test. ***P < 0.001. f Volcano plot of the METABRIC dataset showing differentially expressed genes in breast cancer patients compared to normal tissue as visualised in the OASIS software. The significant downregulated HOXC8 expression is highlighted