The pathogenetic role in HCC of the exhausted lymphocytes found in NASH was confirmed by the paradoxical evidence that, in mice with diet-induced NAFLD, a preventive treatment with anti-PD1 antibodies aggravated tissue damage and increased the occurrence of liver tumors, whereas the depletion of CD8+ T-cells protected the mice from HCC. This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.