Abstract
CXCLs play critical roles in antitumor immunity by activating tumor-specific immune responses and stimulating tumor proliferation, thus affecting patient outcomes. However, the expression and prognostic values of CXCLs in breast cancer have not been well clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of CXCLs transcriptional expression on breast cancer patients. Oncomine database, GEPIA (Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis), UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, TIMER (Tumor Immune Estimation Resource), and DAVID were used in our study. The transcriptional levels of CXCL9/10/11/13 in breast cancer tissues were significantly elevated while the transcriptional levels of CXCL1/2/3/12 were decreased based on intersections of Oncomine database and GEPIA. Among them, breast cancer patients with high transcriptional levels of CXCL2/9/10/12/13 and low transcriptional level of CXCL3 were associated with a better prognosis. We also found that most of CXCLs expressions are significantly correlated with known prognostic factors, such as patient's age, major subclasses, individual cancer stages, and nodal metastasis status. In addition, the expression of CXCL9/10/12/13 was also indicated to be correlated with the infiltration of six types of immune cells (B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells). The functions of differentially expressed CXCLs are primarily related to the immune response and cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions. Our results may provide novel evidence of new prognostic or predictive biomarkers for breast cancer patients.