TGFB1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Owing to different epigenetic miRNA regulation and DNA methylation, there is a shift from the TGF-β pathway to the JAK-STAT pathway and different proteins involved in the MAPK pathway cause the downsregulation of TFs to their respective target genes, thus regulating cellular responses (i.e. cell proliferation, apoptotic process, cell cycle, cell survival, and metastasis) and subsequently causing the progression of HCC from stage III to stage IV, as shown in Figure 5.