Fig. 7

AXL expression correlates with an immunosuppressive TME of IBC. A–D Violin plots showed the absolute percentages of different immune cell subsets as defined by CIBERSORT according to high versus low AXL expression in IBC samples from the Inflammatory Breast Cancer International Consortium: M2 macrophages A, resting memory CD4⁺ T cells B, activated myeloid dendritic cells C, and follicular helper T cells D. A 2-tailed Student t test was used to calculate P values. E Proposed mechanistic model of AXL in the IBC TME. AXL regulated M2 macrophage polarization and the expression of immunosuppressive molecules and STAT6-modulated cytokines, which induced IBC’s aggressiveness