ADIPOQ and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Dysregulation of cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and of adipokines, such as adiponectin, regarded as a key proinflammatory cytokine and adipokine, respectively, is implicated in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and possibly in the progression to HCC [8,9,10].