AKR1D1 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: This study pinpointed dysregulated genes and their variants in NAFLD, revealing implicated biological functions, pathways, and key hub genes (AKR1D1, LIPC, UGT2B17, DGAT2, and SERPINE1) linked to metabolic, immune, and lipid processes in hepatocytes and obese cells.