MAPK8 and Hyperglycemia: MAPK cascades (p38 MAPK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase or JNK/SAPK and ERK 1 and 2 or p44/p42 MAPKs) have been extensively reported to be involved in hyperglycemia mediated extracellular matrix accumulation in diabetic nephropathy (Brosius et al., 2010).