UCP2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Here, we demonstrate that the augmented D3 in MASLD liver is associated not only with mitochondrial damage, as shown by changes in the Ucp2 and Pgc1-α genes but also with the induced Bcl2 gene, which is not only an anti-apoptotic stimulus to the mitochondria but also acts as an oncogene that could link the whole process to a final hepatocellular carcinoma stage.