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Liver fibrosis is the result of a sustained wound healing response to sustained chronic liver injury, which includes viral, alcoholic and autoimmune hepatitis. Hepatic regeneration is the dominant outcome of liver damage. The outcomes of successful repair are the replacement of dead epithelial cells with healthy epithelial cells, and reconstruction of the normal hepatic structure and function. Prevention of the development of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) may control and even reverse liver fibrosis. EMT is a critical process for an epithelial cell to undergo a conversion to a mesenchymal phenotype, and is believed to be an inflammation-induced response, which may have a central role in liver fibrosis. The origin of fibrogenic cells in liver fibrosis remains controversial. Numerous studies have investigated the origin of all fibrogenic cells within the liver and the mechanism of the signaling pathways that lead to the activation of EMT programs during numerous chronic liver diseases. The present study aimed to summarize the evidence to explain the possible role of EMT in liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Hepatitis B virus-associated acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ALCF) is a complicated syndrome with extremely high short-term mortality. -e artificial liver support system (ALSS) may improve the liver function for patients with HBV-ACLF, but the data on its short-term outcomes are insufficient in China. Methods. We recruited HBV-ACLF patients in this nationwide, multicenter, retrospective study. Patients with HBV-ACLF were diagnosed by the COSSH-ACLF criteria. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to generate compared pairs. -e short-term (28/90 days) survival rates between the standard medical therapy (SMT) group and ALSS group were calculated using a Kaplan-Meier graph. Result. In total, 790 patients with HBV-ACLF were included in this retrospective study; 412 patients received SMT only (SMT group), and 378 patients received SMTand ALSS treatment (ALSS group). PSM generated 310 pairs and eliminated the baseline differences between the two groups (p > 0.05 for all baseline variables). -e probabilities of survival on day 28 were 65.2% (205/310) in the ALSS group and 59.0% (185/310) in the SMTgroup; on day 90, they were 51.0% (163/310) and 42.3% (136/310). -e short-term (28/90 days) survival rates of the ALSS group were significantly higher than those of the SMTgroup (p = 0.0452 and p = 0.0187, respectively). Compared to receiving SMTalone, treatment with ALSS was associated with a significant reduction in serum bilirubin levels and the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores at day 7 and day 28. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that older age, high total bilirubin (T-Bil), low albumin, high ALT, high MELD scores, and high COSSH-ACLF grade were independent baseline factors associated with poor prognosis. Conclusions. -is retrospective study found that compared to SMT, the ALSS improved the short-term (28/90 days) survival rates and laboratory parameters in HBV-ACLF patients. -e ALSS had a better therapeutic effect than SMT for patients with HBV-ACLF in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]