VCAN and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Nine of them were identified as hub genes, including GPNMB, SPP1, VCAN, COL1A1, COL1A2, LUM, FAP, FBLN5, and MT1M. GPNMB is one of the most highly expressed genes at the early and intermediate stages of eosinophil development, which plays an anti-inflammation function in NAFLD progression.