AKR1C1 and colorectal carcinoma: To gain insight into how these inflammatory fibroblasts shape the TME, we performed ligand-receptor analysis to unravel distinct interactions of AKR1C1+ and WNT5A+ inflammatory fibroblasts with other cell types in BRCA, CRC, HNSC, and OV samples (Fig. 4D and Supplementary Fig. S12D, E).