FACS analyses revealed the same populations of CD68lowCD14high macrophage and CD68highCD14low Kupffer cells with different frequencies in the two livers, but qRT–PCR analyses revealed significantly increased expression of Tlr4, dynamin2, Rac1, Rac2, Nlrp3, Il-1β and Tnf-α in MNCs from fatty liver compared to MNCs from non-steatotic normal lesion of HCC (Fig. 7d). Here, TNF is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.