MALAT1 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Furthermore, MALAT1 was demonstrated to target C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (CXCL5), whose transcript and protein levels were increased in fibrotic liver and activated hepatic stellate cells, supporting the hypothesis that MALAT-1 has a pivotal role in the development of steatohepatitis and fibrosis in NAFLD patients [114,115].