NFE2L2 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: When treating human liver HepG2 cells with CCDC80 recombinant protein, we observed that the CCDC80 recombinant protein significantly modulated the expression of 9 genes, several of which have previously been linked to NAFLD and related liver pathologies, including PPARA, NFE2L2, MOGAT1, and ZNF638. 14,15,67, 68, 69, 70PPARA is a transcription factor that is considered a master regulator of fatty acid metabolism in the liver,14 and has been negatively associated with NAFLD in multiple previous studies.15