Furthermore, these macrophages were mainly found in SPP1-positive macrophage subcluster associated with poor prognosis based on previous studies [36, 42], and Spp1 was upregulated in M2-like macrophages in both injured kidneys and kidney cancer in our study, similar to Slc7a11. In these organs, M2-like macrophages are also recognized to contribute to promoting organ failure and cancer progression. Here, SPP1 is linked to kidney cancer.