CD163 and hepatocellular carcinoma: In line with these findings, the circulating levels of sCD163 and IL-10 were higher in HCC patients than in control and non-malignant cohorts, which is consistent with the findings of Minami et al. [46], who reported significant upregulation of CD163-expressing tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in HCC patients with poorly differentiated tumors and those with tumor sizes ≥ 3.5 cm, and with the findings of Zhang et al. [47], who proposed sCD163 as a potential predictor of mortality in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis.