STAT1 and cirrhosis of liver: Lee et al. demonstrated the antiviral activity of Bifidobacterium adolescentis SPM0212 against HBV and that probiotic cellular extracts inhibited the replication of HBV viruses by up-regulating the activation of the MxA protein by STAT1 [100]; El-Adawi et al. showed that treatment with probiotic medium extracts significantly reduced HCV viral load and HepG2 cell death; probiotic supplementation attenuated thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis in rats by inhibiting the expression of TLR4, CXCL9, and PREX-2 [101].