Fig. 5

KITLG/KIT signaling in MC activation and CRC inhibition.

a. Heatmap generated by CellphoneDB analysis showing the potential ligand-receptor interactions between resting and activated MCs and other major cell types in CRC (GSE178341). Numbers indicate the number of potential ligand-receptor pairs. b. Dot plots of interactions between resting and activated MCs and other major cell types along the IL33-IL1RL1 and KITLG-KIT axes. c. Dot plots displaying the expression of IL1RL1, IL33, KIT, and KITLG in different major cell types (5-cohorts) (left), and UMAP plots displaying the expression of IL33 and IL1RL1 (right upper), and KITLG and KIT (right bottom). d. Dot plots showing the expression of IL1RL1, IL33, KIT, and KITLG in different major cell types (GSE178341). e. Bar plots comparing the positive rate of KITLG expression between normal tissue and CRC in fibroblasts (left) and endothelial cells (center). Dot plots showing the expression of KITLG in different endothelial cell subsets (right). f. Correlation analysis of KITLG and KIT expression in TCGA-CRC (Spearman test). g. Correlation analysis of KITLG and KIT expression in GSE39582 (Spearman test). h. qRT-PCR analysis shows KIT mRNA expression level in P815 after manipulating different concentrations of KITLG protein. i. Western blot analysis shows KIT protein expression level in P815 after manipulating different concentrations of KITLG protein. j. CCK-8 assay comparing the proliferative capacity of CRC cells when exposed to medium with only different KITLG concentrations (left), compared to medium from p815 coculture with varying KITLG concentrations (right). Optical density (OD) was monitored daily for a 5-day period. k. Transwell analysis showing the impact on CRC cell migration and invasion when exposed to medium with only different KITLG concentrations (left), compared to medium from p815 coculture with varying KITLG concentrations (right). All data are shown as the mean ± SD. **: p < 0.01, ***: p < 0.001