The mice of CCl4 group infected with lenti-NC developed severe liver fibrosis, while the extent of liver fibrosis was greatly reduced in ATF3 knockdown mice as demonstrated by macroscopic examination, H&E staining, Sirius red staining, IHC for ATF3, α-SMA, and collagen1 (Fig. 3a and Supplementary Fig. 3). This evidence concerns the gene ATF3 and Hepatic fibrosis.