Importantly, α-SMA and CD146 immunoreactivity, as well as transcriptionally predicted cellular composition, were unaltered before tumour inoculation, indicating that increased metastatic seeding was not due to alterations in the liver environment induced by Plxnb2 OE but, rather, to direct tumour–hepatocyte interactions (Extended Data Fig. 6c–f). This evidence concerns the gene MCAM and neoplasm.