Our findings show a strong positive correlation between the HSC activation signature and HSC-specific XBP1 genes (p = 0.01 for sXBP1 signature and p < 0.001 for uXBP1 signature), reinforcing the hypothesis that XBP1-mediated ER stress plays an important role in HSC activation and progression of liver disease in vivo. Here, XBP1 is linked to liver disorder.