Figure 7. CAF promote tumor growth through direct interaction.

(A) CD8⁺ T cell depletion or isotype injection in αSMA-TK mice injected with ganciclovir (i.p. 10 mg/kg) to deplete CAF simultaneously. Pan02 liver metastasis in αSMA-TK mice with representative macroscopic and IHC images of liver and liver-to-body weight ratio (LBR) and tumor area quantification (n = 5–7 mice/group). Scale bars: 1 cm. (B) Subcutaneous coinjection of HSC with tumor cells (Pan02 or CMT93) or tumor cells alone in immune-deficient Rag2^–/– mice. (C) Representative pictures and quantification of cocultured spheroids comprising Pan02 cells alone and Pan02 cells with HSC. (D) CellphoneDB analysis showing ligand-receptor interactions between tumor cells with HSC-CAF and PF-CAF and/or other CAF in mouse and human liver metastasis samples. Statistics were performed using 2-tailed unpaired t test or Mann Whitney U test dependent on data distribution (A–C). Data are shown as the mean ± SEM.