Multiple etiologies of liver disease lead to liver fibrosis through integrated signaling networks
that regulate the deposition of extracellular matrix. This cascade of responses drives the
activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) into a myofibroblast-like phenotype that is
contractile, proliferative and fibrogenic. Collagen and other extracellular matrix (ECM)
components are deposited as the liver generates a wound-healing response to encapsulate
injury. Sustained fibrogenesis leads to cirrhosis, characterized by a distortion of the liver …