Fig. 5: Cell–cell crosstalk during LUAD progression.

a Heat map depicting the significant interactions among the 16 major cell types identified in Fig. 1b. b Overview of the selected ligand-receptor interactions. p-values (two-tailed permutation test) are indicated by circle size; the scale is on the right. The means of the average expression level of interacting molecule 1 in cluster 1 and interacting molecule 2 in cluster 2 are indicated by color. Assays were carried out at the RNA level, but extrapolated to protein interactions. Selected cells include AT2 cells, AT2-like cells, ECs and fibroblasts. AT2: alveolar type 2 cells; ECs: endothelial cells. c Diagram of the main receptors and ligands expressed on AT2 cells and AT2-like cells, AT1: alveolar type 1 cells; AT2: alveolar type 2 cells. d Representative multiplexed staining of cytokeratin-positive tumor cells (Cyan), CD68⁺ macrophages (orange), FoxP3⁺ regulatory T cells (yellow), CD8⁺ T cells (red), PD-1⁺ cells (magenta), and PD-L1⁺ cells (green) on tissues from different stages. Each staining in panels come from three samples. Scale 50 μm, nuclei (DAPI) are stained blue.