Although, at this stage, one may only speculate on the functional impact of HOXA5 on TGFB1-mediated astrocytosis, at least two published sets of experimental data indicate that HOXA5 promotes the TGFB1 pathway: (i) in murine adipocytes, Hoxa5/Smad1 interaction induces the phosphorylation of Smad1 [60] and (ii) in human carcinoma cells, the transactivating activity of HOXA5 is crucially involved in the process of TGFB1-mediated epithelial–mesenchymal transition [61]. Here, SMAD1 is linked to carcinoma.