AEBP1 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: As shown in Fig. 6, the expression of AEBP1, ITGAV, LOXL2, and TAGLN was significantly different (false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.05) between patients with mild NAFLD (fibrosis stage F0-F1, n = 40) and advanced NAFLD (F3–F4, n = 32) (Fig. 6A).