In HCC patients, CD68 and Collagen type I α 1 (COL1A1) expression levels were increased in regions with high POSTN expression, whereas POSTN levels were lower in regions with high CD3D expression (Wang et al., 2024a; Li Z. et al., 2024; Li Y. et al., 2024). Here, POSTN is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.