TGFB1 and myocardial infarction: Interestingly, in an experimental rat model of MI, treatment with menstrual-blood–derived mesenchymal stem cells has been shown to protect endothelial function, reduce infarct size, decrease cardiac fibrosis, and downregulate TGFβ1/SMAD signaling, all through the comprehensive inhibition of EndMT (Zhang et al., 2013).