In their study of an in vitro model of liver fibrosis, Ren et al. found that E. multilocularis cyst fluid has a significant impact on messenger RNA levels of ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38 in rat HSCs, and also observed morphological changes in the HSCs, and karyopyknosis [33]. The gene discussed is MAPK3; the disease is Hepatic fibrosis.