SMAD4 and Hepatic fibrosis: Zou et al. (2017a) showed that in vitro (human hepatocyte cell line L02) and in vivo (CCl4-treated rat hepatic fibrosis model) overexpression of miR-146a attenuate liver fibrosis and TGF-ß1-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of hepatocytes via targeting Smad4 [39].