Albumin and R-III downregulate RA signaling. HSCs-P1 were either transfected with RARE Cignal reporter and expression plasmid containing vehicle or albumin (left panel) or treated with R-III (25-250 nM) after transfection with RARE Cignal reporter (right panel). After 36 h, the transfected cells were harvested for luciferase assay. Renilla luciferase activity was normalized to firefly luciferase activity. Ratios were normalized against the cells transfected with vehicle plasmid. **P-value, two-sample t-test (n = 9) (compared to control), albumin: 0.0037, R-III 125 nM: 0.0032. 