TGFB1 and Hepatic fibrosis: Even if hepatic stellate cells are widely considered the main matrix-producing cells that drive liver fibrosis, evidence from several in vitro and in vivo studies suggests that TGFβ1-stimulated hepatocytes can undergo phenotypic and functional changes and can acquire a fibroblast-like morphology, leading to EMT associated with liver fibrosis (49 and references therein).