ITGBL1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Similarly, in liver cells, a previous study revealed that ITGBL1 promotes migration and invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma cells by stimulating the TGFβ/SMADs signalling pathway through interaction with TGFβ1 [32]; moreover, ITGBL1 was demonstrated to be as a key upstream regulator of liver fibrosis via interactions with TGFβ [40].