CD44 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: We also noted a sub-population of fibroblasts expressing Ccl2, a known ligand for CCR2 which is expressed on monocytes recruited to the liver during NAFLD (Remmerie et al., 2020), as well as Cd44 and Vcam1, two genes involved in monocyte recruitment and adhesion (Johnson and Ruffell, 2009; Meerschaert and Furie, 1995).