P2RX7 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: On the other hand, a study focused on the role of P2X7 in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease showed that P2X7 gene deletion protected mice from HFD-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, possibly through blunted activation of NLRP3 inflammasome (Blasetti Fantauzzi et al., 2017).