AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: In light of these findings, serum levels of sCD163, IL-10, and IL-12 and peripheral expression of Cldn1 and TGF-β provide novel non-invasive biomarkers with a significant predictive capacity for HCC risk among patients with mild degrees of liver cirrhosis, circumventing the drawbacks of conventional prognostic markers in patients with normal AFP, albumin, and/or platelet counts.