Intriguingly, given that TIMPs are highly expressed in liver fibrosis and that the imbalance of MMPs/TIMPs promotes the progression of fibrosis, Shen et al. found that astaxanthin is able to repress the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) to ameliorate liver fibrosis through downregulating the expression of NF-κB and TGF-β1 and preserving the balance between MMP2 and TIMP1 [48]. Here, MMP2 is linked to Hepatic fibrosis.