ACTA2 and Hepatic fibrosis: Furthermore, hepatic mRNA levels of fibrogenic genes (Acta2, Col1a1, Col3a1, Col4a1, Tgfb1, Mmp13 and Vim) were significantly upregulated in miR-223KO mice compared with WT mice, suggesting that miR-223 deletion accelerated liver fibrosis (Fig. 1C).