[31], [32] In accordance with these reports, we found that plasma sCD163 was associated with inflammatory markers of hepatitis, such as serum ALT, γ-GT and ALP. The densities of peritumoral infiltrated CD163+ cells were also positively correlated with these markers. Plasma sCD163 level and peritumoral CD163 expression was not statistically significant difference between the patients with and without cirrhosis, which is consistent with another report showing that the sCD163 level was higher in patients with acute liver failure than in those with stable liver cirrhosis or healthy controls [32]. Here, CD163 is linked to cirrhosis of liver.