A panel of six proteins (including fibrinogen β chain, retinol binding protein 4, serum amyloid P component, lumican, transgelin 2, and CD5 antigen-like) successfully differentiates patient groups with a 76% overall success rate (AUROC: control 1.0, simple steatosis 0.83, NASH 0.86, NASH F3/F4 0.91. Here, CD5L is linked to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.