TGFB1 and neoplasm: This hostile microenvironment provides a strong trigger for clonal expansion of tumour cells with diverse adaptive mechanisms, including the evasion of apoptosis via physical lodgement into the hepatic sinusoids and a heightened secretion of cytokines, such as TGFβ, produced by tumour cells to trigger the hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) into a desmoplastic response.