A recent study showed that acylcarnitine profiles can be used as biomarkers for obesity-driven HCC, pinpointed a serum metabolite, oleoylcarnitine (C18:1 carnitine), which was found in this study, as one of the biomarkers for NAFLD and HCC, and revealed the mechanism of actions of oleoylcarnitine through STAT3 pathway activation31. Here, STAT3 is linked to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.