LTF and cancer: We further used XCELL algorithm and found that LTF expression was significantly correlated to the infiltration of different immune cells, including CD4 + effector memory T cells (Rho = 0.259, p = 2.27e-03), CD8 + naive T cells (Rho = − 0.216, p = 1.11e-02), monocytes (Rho = 0.45, p = 3.47e-08), macrophages (Rho = 0.317, p = 1.60e-04) and cancer associated fibroblast (Rho = 0.325, p = 6.40e-10) (Fig. 9A).