We found that, both in co-cultured THP-1 macrophages or primary macrophages sorted from HCC tumors, treatment of PPARγ inhibitors, GW9662 and T0070907 significantly decreases the expression levels of marker genes of MMP9+ TAMs and the protein levels of MMP9 and SPP1 in the culture media (Fig. 4g, f and Supplementary Fig. 9a, b). This evidence concerns the gene SPP1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.