Fig. 4

Signaling pathways downstream of OPRK1 identified by scRNA-seq A The UMAP technique was employed to categorize cells into 11 distinct clusters, each represented by a unique color corresponding to its designated phenotype. B The heatmap illustrates the expression levels of the top five DEGs across each cell cluster. C The cell–cell communication signaling network among the 11 clusters was analyzed using CellChat. The right panel depicts the spatial distribution of cell clusters based on the number of their significant incoming (Y-axis) and outgoing (X-axis) signaling interactions. D Heatmap illustrating the CellChat signaling within each cluster. The left panel depicts the outgoing signaling patterns, represented by the expression weight values of signaling molecules, while the right panel illustrates the incoming signaling patterns, indicated by the expression weight values of signaling receptors. The gradient from white to dark green signifies a range from low to high expression weight values in the heatmap. E The inferred network of the MIF signaling pathway. F The heatmap illustrates the enrichment of various pathways across 11 distinct cell clusters as determined by GSVA. Each column corresponds to a specific group or subpopulation of cells, while each row represents an individual pathway. The intensity of red coloration indicates higher scores, whereas blue coloration signifies lower scores. G Feature plots depict the spatial distribution of BTG2, OPRK1, PTGER2, and TSPAN3 across the 11 cell clusters