Finally, a highly significant upregulation of renal versican, i.e. 8.0 fold (p<0.001) increase over control, was observed in rats with Passive Heymann Nephritis (PHN) - a severe model of proteinuric nephropathy which partly resembles human membranous nephropathy (MN) - studied at 6 months. Here, VCAN is linked to membranous glomerulonephritis.