LECT2 and atherosclerosis: Hepatocyte-derived LECT2 not only regulates hepatocyte cells in an autocrine mode, but can also be secreted into the bloodstream to act on cells of other tissues in a paracrine way to modulate multiple metabolic homeostasis or disorders such as glucose metabolism, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (7, 8), alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis (9), obesity (10), diabetes (11, 12), and atherosclerosis (13).