For this purpose, and to get a comprehensive appraisal of TGF-β secretion and of its role in E. multilocularis infection, experimental AE in a mouse model of liver-targeted secondary AE [4] allowed us to study the time course of TGF-β expression as well as the dynamics of TGF-β signaling-related components, TGF-β RI, TGF-β RII, pSmad 2/3, Smad4 and Smad7, and to correlate them with the time course of the periparasitic infiltration by T-cell subpopulations, and to biochemical indicators of liver fibrosis, such as α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and collagens I (COL I), and III (COL III). This evidence concerns the gene SMAD7 and Hepatic fibrosis.