CCN5 and Hepatic fibrosis: In line, a study in which CCN5 was transiently overexpressed in the human hepatic stellate cell line LX-2 showed that elevated expression of CCN5 suppressed Smad2 phosphorylation and expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen type I (Col I), which are hallmarks of liver fibrosis (Zhang et al. 2013).