Compared to healthy subjects, HCC patients presented a higher concentration of serum IL-10, which inversely correlated with the number of circulating DC subsets and their expression of costimulatory molecules, suggesting that circulating DCs in HCC patients mainly consist of immature cells and that the increased systemic levels of IL-10 might directly account for the alterations in the frequency and maturity of DC subsets. The gene discussed is IL10; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.