SMAD2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Notably, in a recent study using a similar approach in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cell repopulation of cirrhotic scaffolds showed a unique up-regulation of genes related to EMT and TGF-β signaling as well as a high concentration of endogenous TGF-β1 in comparison to healthy scaffolds and TGF-β1-induced phosphorylation of canonical proteins Smad2/379.