Taxifolin Inhibits Breast Cancer Growth by Facilitating CD8+ T Cell Infiltration and Inducing a Novel Set of Genes including Potential Tumor Suppressor Genes in 1q21.3.

Taxifolin inhibits breast cancer (BC) via novel mechanisms. In a syngeneic mouse BC model, taxifolin suppressed 4T-1 cell-derived allografts. RNA-seq of 4T-1 tumors identified 36 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upregulated by taxifolin. Among their human homologues, 19, 7, and 2 genes were downregulated in BCs, high-proliferative BCs, and BCs with high-fatality risks, respectively. Three genes were established as tumor suppressors and eight were novel to BC, including HNRN , KPRP , CRCT1 , and FLG2 . These four genes exhibit tumor suppressive actions and reside in 1q21.3, a locus amplified in 70% recurrent BCs, revealing a unique vulnerability of primary and recurrent BCs with 1q21.3 amplification with respect to taxifolin. Furthermore, the 36 DEGs formed a multiple gene panel (DEG36) that effectively stratified the fatality risk in luminal, HER2+, and triple-negative (TN) equivalent BCs in two large cohorts: the METABRIC and TCGA datasets. 4T-1 cells model human TNBC cells. The DEG36 most robustly predicted the poor prognosis of TNBCs and associated it with the infiltration of CD8+ T, NK, macrophages, and Th2 cells. Of note, taxifolin increased the CD8+ T cell content in 4T-1 tumors. The DEG36 is a novel and effective prognostic biomarker of BCs, particularly TNBCs, and can be used to assess the BC-associated immunosuppressive microenvironment.