Ferroptosis regulators, especially SQLE, play an important role in prognosis, progression and immune environment of breast cancer

Table 2 The effect of alteration of TIM on antitumor immunity

Immune cell	Variation trend in high FR risk	Basic immune function	Final effect on anticancer process
T cells CD8	Decreasing	CD8+ T cells are the main effector cells responsible for killing tumour cells and virally infected cells.	Unfavorable
T cells CD4 memory	Activated Type Increased	Memory CD4 T cells play a crucial role in adaptive immune response.	Beneficial
T cells CD4 memory	Resting Type Decreasing		Beneficial
NK cells	Activated Type Decreasing	NK cells can provide host defense against tumour through their potent cytolytic function.	Unfavorable
NK cells	Resting Type Increased		Unfavorable
Macrophages M2	Increased	M2 cells can facilitate tumor cells proliferation and repair.	Unfavorable
Dendritic cells	Activated Type No change	DCs specialize antigen-presenting process and contribute to adaptive immune response, but may induce immune tolerance.	Uncertain
Dendritic cells	Resting Type Decreasing		Uncertain
Mast cells	Activated Type No change	Mast cells possess pro-tumor or anti-tumor bi-directional abilities via secreting different factors.	Uncertain
Mast cells	Resting Type Decreasing		Uncertain
Plasma cells	Decreasing	Plasma cells commonly serve a positive role in antitumor immunity.	Unfavorable
TILs	Negative Correlation	TILs play a specific killing effect on tumors.	Unfavorable
Tregs	Positive Correlation	Tregs play an immune suppressive role through expressing the transcription factor FoxP3.	Unfavorable
Th1/Th2	Positive Correlation	Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1 is beneficial for antitumor immune process.	Beneficial

TIM tumor immune microenvironment, NK cells natural killer cells, Tregs T cells regulatory, DCs Dendritic cells, TILs tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes

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