Stengel S, Quickert S, Lutz P, et al. - Researchers described peritoneal macrophages (PMs) and correlated their activation with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) outcomes of patients. They isolated PMs from ascites samples of 67 individuals with decompensated cirrhosis (20 with SBP) and analyzed them by flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR, functional analysis, and RNA microarrays. They used ascites samples from a different cohort of 120 individuals with decompensated cirrhosis (76 with SPB) and quantified the soluble form of the mannose receptor (CD206) and tumor necrosis factor by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (test cohort). According to findings, surface levels of CD206 may be used in patients with cirrhosis to identify mature, resident, inflammatory PMs. Soluble CD206 is released from activated large PMs, and increased concentrations in cirrhosis and SBP patients suggested decreased chances of 90 days survival.