Figure 1.

Factors causing the activation of hepatic stellate cells and liver fibrosis. Many factors can cause liver injury and hepatic cell death and inflammation, including hepatitis viral infection, alcohol consumption, metabolic liver disease, abnormal bile acid products, and genetic factors. These pathogenic factors cause immune cell inflammation, hepatocyte death, oxidative stress, and endoplasmic reticulum stress, resulting in hepatic stellate cell activation and differentiation to myofibroblasts to lead to liver fibrosis. All cartoons in this figure were prepared using Biorender (https://biorender.com). ER: Endoplasmic reticulum; HSC: Hepatic stellate cell; ROS: Reactive oxygen species.