TIMP3 and Hepatic fibrosis: We further demonstrated that miR-6676-3p downregulated the mRNA expression of α-SMA, COLLAGEN I, TIMP1, TIMP3 and upregulated MMP2, MMP9 (Fig. 7c), which are all profibrogenic genes in which TIMP1/3 antagonize MMP2/9 which decompose the collagen I during the progression of liver fibrosis.