Isolation of CD45+ leukocytes and α‐SMA+ fibroblasts from peritumoral liver and HCC tissues using MicroBeads and an MS Column (Miltenyi Biotec, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) was performed according to the manufacturer's instructions. Phenotypic characterization of the isolated cells was conducted using flow cytometry as previously described 24. Details are included in the supplementary material, Supplementary materials and methods.