Fig. 4

Cell–cell interactions of MFAP5 + fibroblasts and C1QC + macrophages are associated with poor CRC prognosis. A UMAP plot of tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells colored by cell types. B UMAP plots of myeloid cells subclusters faceted by tissue types (include tumor core, border and adjacent normal tissues). C Stacked bar plot of myeloid cell proportions in different tissue types. D Violin plot of cell-specific signatures of myeloid cells. E Complex heatmaps exhibit the correlation between tumor-associated fibroblasts and myeloid cells in two independent cohort: COAD and READ, the correlation between MFAP5 + fibroblasts and C1QC + macrophages marked with red box. F Heatmap of fibroblasts and myeloid cells infiltration level scored by ssGSEA algorithm in ST. G Spatial transcriptomics images of MFAP5 + fibroblasts and C1QC + macrophages scored by AddModuleScore. H mIHC figures show the localization of MFAP5 + fibroblasts and C1QC + macrophages in tumor or normal tissues of Patient 1 and Patient 2, red arrows show the representative C1QC + macrophages, green arrows represent MFAP5 + fibroblasts (×40, 20 μm). I mIHC figures show the co-localization of MFAP5 and C1QC + macrophages in the tumor core or border regions in Patient 2, yellow arrows show the microfibrils adhered C1QC + macrophages (×20, 50 μm). J K–M plot shows survival analysis for both expression of MFAP5 + fibroblasts and C1QC + macrophages in TCGA-COAD, GSE14333 and GSE17536 cohorts