In both the DEN- and NASH-induced HCC model, there was a strong activation of inflammation-related pathways, including an upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (including Tnf, Il1b, S100a8 and S100a9) and chemokines (e.g., Ccl2, Ccl3, Ccl4, Ccl5, Cxcl1 and Cxcl2) (Figure 2A and 2B; Figure 3A). Here, S100A9 is linked to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.