Fig. 6

a Venn diagram of metastatic genes up-regulated in MDA-MB-231 cells in an exclusive and shared manner upon hypoxia (2% O2) and IL-1β. The genes up-regulated by both hypoxia and IL-1β are listed in the box according to the gene expression changes induced by hypoxia (from high to low) (see Additional file 3). b mRNA expression of IL-1β and COX2 in MDA-MB-231 cells cultured upon normoxia and hypoxia or vehicle and IL-1β in the presence or absence of the IL1R1 antagonist IL1R1a, as evaluated by real-time PCR. Values are normalized to the actin beta (ACTB) expression and shown as fold changes of the mRNA expression induced by hypoxia respect to normoxic cells. c Scatter plot depicting the correlation between the expression of COX2 and IL-1β in TNBC patients of the METABRIC cohort of patients. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and the relative p-value are indicated. d Immunoblots of IL-1β and COX2 in MDA-MB-231 cells cultured upon normoxia or hypoxia in combination with IL1R1a, as indicated. e Immunoblots of IL-1β and COX2 in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with vehicle or IL-1β and in combination with IL1R1a. f Immunoblots of COX2 in MDA-MB-231 cells upon normoxia and hypoxia silencing GPER. Side panels show densitometric analysis of the blots normalized to β-actin. Values represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments performed in triplicate. (*) p < 0.05 for cells cultured under normoxia versus cells cultured under hypoxia or cells treated with IL-1β versus vehicle-treated cells