Breast cancer stem cell activity driven by ME18D gene expression in the tumor microenvironment

Figure 5 Pathway enrichment analysis and functional network of breast cancer stem cell-related genes. A: Gene Ontology enrichment analysis showing key biological processes including cell cycle regulation, DNA repair, and apoptosis control; B: Protein-protein interaction network revealing functional associations among key genes with regulatory hubs; C: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment identifying cancer-related signaling pathways (cell cycle, p53, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B, mitogen activated protein-kinase); D and E: Pathway network heatmaps displaying enrichment levels with red indicating upregulated pathways and green indicating downregulated pathways; F: Comprehensive functional enrichment results integrating Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses, highlighting significant enrichment in cell cycle checkpoints, DNA damage response, and stem cell pluripotency maintenance.