*2.11. Proteome Profiling*

Mouse XL Cytokine Array Kit (ARY028, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA) was used to test pooled samples (*n* ≥ 15 per group) of native liver lysates according to the manufacturer's instructions. Regions of interest (ROIs) were defined on high resolution scans of the membranes in ImageJ and the mean grey values (OD) were retrieved. After subtraction of the lowest OD (ODbackground), every pair

of ROIs was assigned a relative OD-value relative to the pair of ROIs with the highest OD (ODreference) using the equation

$$\text{Relative OD}\_{\text{ROI}} \left[ \% \right] = \frac{\text{OD}\_{\text{ROI}} - \text{OD}\_{\text{background}}}{\text{OD}\_{\text{reference}}} \times 100. \tag{3}$$

Linear regression was performed to calculate expected values for the fibrocyte ablated group.
