The expression of AEBP1, a protein known for its positive regulation of ECM organisation and fibrosis-related proteins, including COL1A1 and COL1A2, which exhibited RNA–protein correlation/co-regulation in ICM-DM (Blackburn et al, 2018), has been demonstrated to increase in response to hyperglycaemia, high fructose, and lipid concentrations in human hepatocytes (Gerhard et al, 2019). Here, COL1A1 is linked to diabetes mellitus.