TAMs represent an immunosuppressive subset of macrophages that produce a multitude of molecular mediators such as interleukin IL-10, TGF-β, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and osteopontin (OPN), supporting HCC malignant progression [31,32,33,34,35,36]. Here, SPP1 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.