Fig. 1: Phenotypic discrepancies between normal liver macrophages (N-macs) and liver metastasis-associated macrophages (LMAMs).

a, b Schematic of the experimental liver metastasis (LvMet) models used and flow cytometry (FC) quantification of CD45⁺ leukocytes in LvMet and adjacent normal (adj. Normal) tissues from the same livers (n = 5 for MC38; n = 5 for E0771; n = 6 for hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC). c Multi-colour FC analysis of immune cells in LvMet and adj. Normal tissues from the same livers (n = 5 for MC38; n = 5 for E0771; n = 4 for HCC). d Schematic diagram and experimental workflow for CITE-seq. e. UMAP embedding of N-macs and LMAMs, and feature plots showing the expression of KC-identity genes and mo-mac signature genes. f Schematic design of dual-fluorescent reporter mice for tracing macrophages. g–i Representative immunofluorescence (IF) staining and FC quantification of KC markers Clec4f and Timd4 in adj. Normal and LvMet tissues from the same livers (n = 6 for E0771; scale bar, 50 μm). j Representative IF staining and quantification of Timd4 expression in liver metastasis tissue samples derived from breast cancer patients (triple negative, n = 3; HER2⁺, n = 3; scale bar, 50 μm). Mean ± s.e.m. shown. P values were calculated by comparing individual animals using two-tailed paired (b, g–j) Mann–Whitney U-test.