HMOX1 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: By inducing adiponectin upregulation, HO-1 is able to work in concert with adiponectin involving AMPK cascades to improve insulin sensitivity, attenuate adipogenesis and progression of NASH (Burgess et al., 2010; Hwang et al., 2013; Sodhi et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2016; Peterson et al., 2019).