CCCdb: A comprehensive manually curated database for Cell-Cell Communication in human and mouse

Cell-Cell Communication (CCC) is central to the organization, function, and plasticity of multicellular life. Advancing experimental technologies and growing insights into complex multicellular systems and disease microenvironments are driving the demand for experimentally validated CCCs that are systematically and manually curated across diverse tissues, phenotypes, and signaling modalities. Here, we present CCCdb (http://www.licpathway.net/cccdb/index.php), a comprehensive, manually curated database of experimentally validated cell–cell communications for human and mouse. A total of 8,353 entries were extracted from thousands of publications, each annotated with standardized information on cell types, tissues, and phenotypes. These entries cover 98 tissues, 1,145 cell types, and 577 phenotypes, encompassing communication via direct contact, autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine signaling. CCCdb compiles experiment-supported CCCs across cellular subtypes, tissue interfaces, and physiological or pathological states. To enhance accessibility and biological interpretability, CCCdb integrates a ReAct-based AI assistant that enables intelligent natural-language queries and intuitive navigation through biological information. Understanding how cells communicate to maintain tissue homeostasis and drive disease progression is essential for decoding complex biological systems.