The role of MMP-7 in acute lung injury has been studied in mouse models of interstitial pulmonary diseases such as fibrosis: Mmp7−/− mice had suppressed pulmonary fibrosis caused by bleomycin (Li et al. 2002; Zuo et al. 2002), and it was accompanied by decreased neutrophilic inflammation and chemokines (e.g., KC) in the alveolar fluid (Li et al. 2002). Here, MMP7 is linked to fibrosis.