TNF and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: Increasing evidence showed that the activation of STAT3 signaling pathway was critical in inflammatory responses, which promoted the production of pro-inflammatory factors such as IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α.22,23 The activation of STAT3 was closely correlated with fat storage, parenchyma hepatic cells fatty change, liver fatty infiltration, hepatic cells necrosis, ballooning degeneration and inflammatory cells infiltration in NASH.24,25 Therefore, it is probably of great therapeutic interest to develop effective medicine to suppress the activation of STAT3 in NASH patients.