Fig. 5From: Potential crosstalk between SPP1 + TAMs and CD8 + exhausted T cells promotes an immunosuppressive environment in gastric metastatic cancerPotential ligand and receptor interactions A. Bubble heatmap showing ligands and receptors of cell‒cell interactions in different disease states. The GDF signaling pathway consists of GDF15-TGFBR2 (ligand receptor). B. Bubble heatmap showing GDF15 expression of MACRO-SPP1 (SPP1 + TAMs) in different disease states. GDF15 expression in MACRO-SPP1 (SPP1 + TAMs) is increased in metastasis. C. UMAP diagram showing the expression of GDF15 in different metastasis samples. GDF15 is mainly expressed in liver metastasis samples (L2). D. The correlation between GDF15 + SPP1 + TAM infiltration and CD8 + T exhausted cell infiltration was analyzed in the gastric cancer BULK datasets. The dotted-line plot shows a positive correlation between the GDF15 + SPP1 + TAM ssGSEA score and the CD8T-C4 (exhausted CD8 + T state) ssGSEA score. E. Comparison of CD8T-C4 (exhausted CD8 + T state) ssGSEA score between high- and low-expressed groups defined by the median expression level of GDF15 + SPP1 + TAM ssGSEA score in the TCGA-STAD cohort. F. Violin plot showing exhaustion gene expression of CD8T-C4 (exhausted CD8 + T state) in different disease states. PDCD1 and CXCL13 expression in CD8T-C4 cells (exhausted CD8 + T cells) is increased in metastasis. G. Dot-line plot showing a positive correlation between GDF15 + SPP1 + TAM ssGSEA score and exhaustion gene expression of CD8T-C4 (exhausted CD8 + T state) in the Gastric Cancer BULK Datasets. Wilcoxon test: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001Back to article page