CD44 and chronic kidney disease: The isolated FCF/CKD-FCF in the present study demonstrated an expression profile similar to that previously reported for renal fibroblasts from other species, namely positive for the mesenchymal markers vimentin, CD44 (a transmembrane adhesion glycoprotein) and CD29 (β1 integrin), and negative for the epithelial marker cytokeratin, mesangial cell marker desmin and endothelial cell marker vWF [27, 33, 34].