Frontiers in immunology
A CCL4-enriched NK-cell transcriptional state is associated with inflammatory and myeloid-stromal programs in colorectal cancer liver metastasis
By Lin L, Xu MZ, Gu X and 3 others.
Abstract
Background
Colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM) develops within a liver-specific immune and stromal microenvironment, yet the natural killer (NK)-cell adaptations associated with this metastatic niche remain incompletely defined.
Methods
We integrated human single-cell RNA sequencing, an exploratory murine cross-species comparison, spatial transcriptomics, bulk transcriptomic cohorts, donor-level pseudobulk analyses, cell-cell communication, pseudotime and in silico perturbation analyses, together with multiplex immunofluorescence, conditioned-medium assays, ELISA and immunoblotting.