Fig. 2

Low EGFR expression is a strong indicator of poor outcomes in chemotherapy-treated TNBC patients. A EGFR mRNA expression (transcript per million) in human normal breast tissues and in TNBC patient tissues belonging to different TNBC subtypes are shown as a box plot derived from TCGA data. B Waterfall plot showing the effect of EGFR gene CRISPR gene knockout in breast cancer cell lines in the order of intensity represented as Chronos scores. C Kaplan–Meier plot showing RFS in TNBC patients under chemotherapy. Similarly, D RFS is shown using mRNA expressions of EGFR in lymph node-positive (LN +) TNBC patient samples treated with chemotherapy and stratified into a high or low expression using the auto expression value as the cut-off point. E DMFS in high-grade LN + TNBC patients under chemotherapy is shown in Kaplan–Meier plot. Expression of EGFR in TNBC tissues was stratified into a high or low expression using auto-cut values. Gene expression of all the breast cancer patients having low (Black) or high (Red) EGFR expression is defined by their median values. The HR score and corresponding p-value for the Log-rank test is indicated. F Kaplan–Meier plot showing breast cancer patients’ survival as a function of EGFR protein levels using the proteomic TCPA data. G Dot plot showing differential expression of EGFR gene in tumors of breast cancer patients achieving pCR and non-pCR as analysed from gene expression dataset (GSE22513) using GEOR on GEO in 28 patient samples treated with Taxane. H Box plot showing gene expression of EGFR in responders vs. non-responders and ROC curve comparing sensitivity and specificity of EGFR gene for classifying responders vs non-responders LN + TNBC patients with chemotherapy