Cross-organ single-cell integration identifies liver-specific fibroblast programs and HGF-MET/AGT-AGTR1B axes that link fibrosis to hepatocarcinogenesis.
BACKGROUND: Fibrosis is a pan-organ wound-healing program, yet stromal mechanisms that are liver-selective and connect liver fibrosis to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain incompletely defined. METHODS: We assembled public single-cell RNA-seq datasets from fibrotic heart, kidney, liver, and lung with matched controls and.....