VEGFA and renal fibrosis: Indeed, hypoxia and the stable expression of HIF-1α have been associated with increased renal fibrosis and EMT, whereas the injection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is beneficial in some experimental models of organ fibrosis (Corpechot et al. 2002; Yoon et al. 2005; Ioannou et al. 2013).