CD44 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: Moreover, in order to further investigate the relevance of CD44 in NAFLD-related HCCs, we evaluated the expression of the CD44 receptor in mice with experimental NASH, which was induced by feeding animals a choline-deficient L-amino acid-defined (CDAA) diet, as well as in mice carrying hepatocarcinoma that originated in a NASH background under the DEN/CDAA carcinogenic protocol.