We totally agree with the reviewer that it is puzzling how NR2F1 expressed in CAFs of the primary breast cancer contribute to the dormancy of DTCs, thus the addition of a discussion on this point in more detail will strengthen this manuscript. Based on our results, NR2F1 expression in primary bulk tumor is associated with several pathways related to dormancy, and NR2F1 is most predominantly expressed in CAFs in the tumor microenvironment. However, we did not prove the underlying mechanism through which CAF-expressed NR2F1 regulates dormancy, and we do not intend to claim a causal relationship. Single-cell sequence data of metastatic tumor cohorts will allow us to investigate whether the expression of NR2F1 in CAFs in the metastatic TME is related to the dormancy of DTCs. We added the following sentences to the discussion section.
(B) The violin plot shows NR2F1 expression in inflammatory CAFs (iCAFs) and myofibroblasts (myCAFs) by immunohistological subtypes in single-cell Cohort 2.