PNPLA3 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Additional factors associated with the development of NAFLD include variations in the patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) gene, a risk allele that is most frequent in Hispanics and therefore explains some of the geographical differences in NAFLD prevalence, as well as microbiota influencing metabolic status [10, 12].