Petersen et
al. (2008) reported that progressive kidney fibrosis precedes
end-stage renal failure in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Elevated intra-renal transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta)
is thought to underlie disease progression by promoting
deposition of extracellular matrix and epithelial
mesenchymal transition. Recently, Ohtomo et al. (2008) have
proposed that in diabetic nephropathy, decreased activities
of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9 and plasmin
contribute to mesengial matrix accumulation. Megsin, a novel
member of the serine protease inhibitor superfamily, is
predominantly expressed in mesengial cells and is upregulated
in diabetic nephropathy and its overexpression
spontaneously induces progressive mesengial expansion by
inhibiting plasmin and MMP activities.