Fig. 4: Global analysis of ligand–receptor interaction pairs.

a Dot plots depicts the changed numbers of putative ligand–receptor pairs in POP samples compared with control samples (red, increased; blue, decreased). b Heatmap displaying the gene ontology enrichment in the increased or decreased ligand–receptor pairs in fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells and macrophages. c Network visualization of ligand–receptor pair numbers among fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells and macrophages. The number of ligand–receptor pairs was shown. d Network visualization of specific pairs among different cell types between control and POP samples. EP epithelial cell, FIB fibroblasts, SMC smooth muscle cells, MEP myoepithelial cells, EC endothelial cells, LEC lymphatic endothelial cells, MΦ macrophages, TC T cells, BC B cells, PB plasma B cells, MAST mast cells.