Lastly, patients with COPD have more CD163+ macrophages in their lungs [239] which is most likely the consequence of lung microenvironment imprinting, as incubation of a human macrophage cell line with sputum from patients with acute exacerbation of COPD induced the expression of other anti-inflammatory genes, such as CD206 and arginase in vitro [240]. Here, CD163 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.