{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T05:02:00Z","timestamp":1784523720919,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784505600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004731","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NO.LQN25H270009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO.LQN25H270009"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004731","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012175","name":"Zhejiang Traditional Chinese Medicine Administration","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NO.2025ZR102, NO.2023ZR026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO.2025ZR102, NO.2023ZR026"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012175","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004863","name":"Zhejiang Chinese Medical University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NO.2025JKZKTS10, 2025JKJNTZ01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO.2025JKZKTS10, 2025JKJNTZ01"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004863","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Cirrhosis is the end-stage of chronic liver disease characterized by progressive hepatic fibrosis and persistent immune dysregulation, yet the mechanisms by which immune cell crosstalk drives disease progression remain poorly understood.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In the present study, we integrated bulk and single-cell transcriptomic analyses with immunofluorescence validation to investigate the role of the CCL20-CCR6 axis in MAIT cells\u2013macrophages interactions during cirrhosis progression.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      We identified eight core cirrhosis-associated immune genes (\n                      <jats:italic>OGN, IL32, CCL19, PDGFA, CCL20, NTS, SEMA3C, HSPA2<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), among which CCL20 was selectively enriched in mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT) and closely associated with their activation- and exhaustion-related transcriptional profiles. Cell-cell communication analysis revealed that the CCL20-CCR6 axis may specifically mediate bidirectional interactions between MAIT cells and M2 macrophages, forming a disease-specific positive feedback loop within the cirrhotic microenvironment. Immunofluorescence staining further confirmed the enrichment and colocalization of CCL20, MAIT cells, and M2 macrophages in cirrhotic tissues.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Collectively, these findings support the CCL20-CCR6 axis as a key regulator of hepatic immune dysregulation and fibrotic progression in liver cirrhosis, highlighting its potential as both a biomarker of disease activity and a therapeutic target for cirrhosis intervention.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1859932","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T04:20:22Z","timestamp":1784521222000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["CCL20-CCR6 axis mediates mucosal-associated invariant T-M2 macrophage crosstalk to drive immune dysregulation in liver cirrhosis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Bochen","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University(Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine)","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ruoling","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Chinese Medical University School of Basic Medical Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuya","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Chinese Medical University School of Basic Medical Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiting","family":"Lou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical 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