TBCE and hepatitis B virus infection: Besides immunohistochemistry of KCs, Baldus et al. (1998) proposed analysis of CD68 to be a sensitive method to specify the amount of KCs as an increased number of hepatic CD68+ macrophages were found in conditions of moderate and severe inflammation such as hepatitis B. Cai et al. (2005) identified the role of CD68 as a marker for the activation of resident KCs.