Fig. 8: Deciphering ligand-receptor interactions in HBV and non-HBV-HCC microenvironment.

A A directed network demonstrating the differential ligand-receptor (L-R) interaction intensities among the six major cell types (colour-coded by cell type) in HBV (left panel) and non-HBV (right panel) tumor tissues. Edge width shows L-R interaction intensities. B Bar chart showing the number of significant ligand-receptor pairs among myeloid (top panel), malignant cells (bottom panel), and all other cells in HBV and non-HBV tumor samples. C Dotplot showing HBV and non-HBV-HCC prevalent L-R interactions among malignant, T/NK, and myeloid cell types, based on significant ligand and receptor pairs. These scores are normalized expression levels, dot size indicates the significance of the interaction, and dot color indicates interaction intensity, calculated by CellPhoneDB. D A Kaplan-Meier plot of disease-free survival in the TCGA LIHC cohort, comparing low versus high MDK-LRP1 ligand-receptor pair’s mean expression in hepatitis virus (right panel) and non-hepatitis virus (left panel) HCC patients. The number of patients from each subgroup and the Log-Rank t-test results are indicated in the plot. E Dotplot showing the interaction between T/NK clusters and myeloid cells in HBV and non-HBV-HCC, based on selected proinflammatory cytokines ligand and receptor pairs. These scores are normalized expression levels; dot size indicates the significance of the interaction, and dot color indicates interaction intensity, calculated by CellPhoneDB. F Kaplan-Meier plot of disease-free survival in the TCGA database, comparing low versus high IFNG-IFNGR1 (left panel) and TNF-TNFRSF1A (right panel) ligand-receptor pair’s mean expression in non-Hepatitis virus HCC patients. The number of patients from each subgroup and the Log-Rank t-test results are indicated in the plot. See also Supplementary Fig. 14.