CTLA4 expression associates with survival in triple negative breast cancer.
We mined published microarray data (1) to understand the most significant gene expression differences in the tumors of triple negative breast cancer patients based on survival at time of analysis: dead or alive. We observed significant transcriptome-wide differential expression of the T-cell inhibitory co-receptor for the B7 ligand, CTLA4, when comparing the primary tumors of triple negative breast cancer patients dead or alive. Importantly, CTLA4 expression was significantly correlated with overall survival in basal subtype breast cancer, a molecular subtype sharing significant overlap with triple negative breast cancer. CTLA4 may be of relevance as a biomarker or as a molecule of interest in understanding the etiology or progression of triple negative breast cancer.