Dr. Heba Afify | Engineering | Editorial Board Member
Cairo | Egypt
Dr. Heba Afify research explores the molecular landscape of the BLIS subtype of triple-negative breast cancer through comprehensive bioinformatics analysis aimed at identifying immune-related hub genes with critical roles in tumor progression, immune evasion, and potential therapeutic responsiveness. Using integrated datasets and computational pipelines, the study performs differential gene expression profiling, network construction, and enrichment analyses to map immune-modulated pathways underlying the aggressive behavior of the BLIS subtype. Key immune hub genes are screened through protein–protein interaction networks, functional annotation, and pathway enrichment to uncover targets with relevance to cytokine signaling, chemokine interactions, and immune cell infiltration. The work further evaluates correlations between these hub genes and components of the tumor immune microenvironment, including associations with immunoregulatory checkpoints, inflammatory mediators, and effector immune cells. By combining multi-level computational evidence, the study highlights genes that may serve as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, or targeted immunotherapy in patients with this difficult-to-treat cancer subtype. The analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of immunogenomic features driving BLIS-TNBC and offers a foundational framework for precision oncology strategies, emphasizing how immune-focused gene signatures can guide future translational research and therapeutic innovations in breast cancer management.
Featured Publications
Adel, H., Abdel Wahed, M., & Afify, H. M. (2025). Bioinformatics analysis for immune hub genes in BLIS subtype of triple-negative breast cancer. Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43042-025-00745-0
Afify, H. M., Mohammed, K. K., & Hassanien, A. E. (2025). Stress detection based EEG under varying cognitive tasks using convolution neural network. Neural Computing and Applications, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-024-10737-7
Afify, H. M., Mohammed, K. K., & Hassanien, A. E. (2024). Insight into automatic image diagnosis of ear conditions based on optimized deep learning approach. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-023-03422-8