EIF3A and fibrosis: Many studies have reported the role of eIF3a over-expression on fibrosis disease, proliferation and differentiation of fibroblasts, for example, Guo et al. proposed that miR-497 suppresses TGF-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in alveolar epithelial cells by directly binding to the 3'UTR of eIF3a mRNA, thereby inhibiting eIF3a expression.