TAOK1 and Hepatic steatosis: The pathological grade of NAFLD is clinically determined in liver biopsies using the NAS, which is composed of the histological scores of the severity of liver steatosis, lobular inflammation, and hepatocyte ballooning.24 Thus, we first analyzed the hepatic TAOK1 mRNA expression in relation to the NAS in a cohort of 62 participants with a wide range in BMI (22.7–45.6 kg/m2), body fat (19.5%–57.9%), and liver fat (1.1%–50.0%).