ANPEP and hypertensive disorder: 2008). Interestingly, severe hypertension‐induced LV hypertrophy in APN‐KO mice is associated with a reduced cardiac MMP‐2 expression compared to WT mice (Sam et al. 2010) indicating that APN might also inhibit profibrotic ECM remodeling by up‐regulating expression of collagen‐cleaving MMPs.