In line with this observation, immunohistochemical analysis highlighted a significant decrease of αSMA+ myofibroblast-like cells in peritumoral areas but not in HCC nodules of HRG-/- mice (Figure 5B); α-SMA transcripts were lowered in both peritumoral tissue and tumors from HRG-/- mice. The gene discussed is ACTA1; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.