CD46 and fatty liver disease: To address this unmet need, we investigated human invariant Natural Killer T cell (iNKT) activation by fat-loaded hepatocytes, leading to the discovery that circulating soluble CD46 (sCD46) levels accurately predict hepatic steatosis.<h4>Methods</h4>sCD46 in plasma was measured using a newly developed immuno-competition assay in two independent cohorts: Prospective living liver donors (n = 156; male = 66, female = 90) and patients with liver tumours (n = 91; male = 58, female = 33).