Fig. 1

Cath-D is eligible for antibody-mediated targeted therapy in TNBC. a Kaplan-Meier curves of recurrence-free survival according CTSD mRNA expression in TNBC. n = 255 patients with TNBC; HR = 1.65 [1.08–2.53], P = 0.019, log-rank test. b Detection of extracellular and cell-surface cath-D in TNBC by proteomics. A TNBC biopsy and its paired normal breast tissue were biotinylated followed by protein digestion. The corresponding glycoprotein fractions containing proteins that are located either in the extracellular matrix or at the exterior face of the plasma membrane were analyzed by proteomics. c Detection of extracellular cath-D in a TNBC TMA. Cath-D was monitored in a TMA by IHC using a monoclonal anti-human cath-D (C-5; sc-377,127) antibody. Scale bar, 50 μm (left panel). Higher magnifications of the boxed regions showing extracellular cath-D (right panel). Scale bar, 10 μm. d Quantification of extracellular cath-D in a TNBC TMA. n = 123 samples. e Detection of membrane-associated cath-D at the cancer cell surface in a TNBC TMA. Scale bar, 50 μm (left panel). Higher magnifications of the boxed regions showing perimembranous cath-D (right panel). Scale bar, 20 μm. f Quantification of membrane-associated cath-D at the cancer cell surface in a TNBC TMA. n = 123 samples. g Detection of cath-D in normal breast tissue. Scale bar, 50 μm (left panel). Higher magnifications of the boxed regions (right panel). Scale bar, 20 μm. h Quantification of extracellular and membrane-associated cath-D in a normal breast TMA. n = 50 samples