The results showed that only OPTN was up-regulated in multiple datasets of early hepatocellular carcinoma (Supplementary Figure 2A), which was consistent with the high expression pattern of OPTN in NAFLD, suggesting that OPTN was also a diagnostic marker of early hepatocellular carcinoma and may be involved in the development of NAFLD to hepatocellular carcinoma. This evidence concerns the gene OPTN and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.