MMP9 and fibrosis: Jiang et al. (2013) found Sal A inhibited fibroblast migration and the secretion of Cytokine such as intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1). These effects are achieved by competitively inhibiting the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Likewise, Sal B selectively inhibited MMP-9 activities to prevent fibrosis without affecting MMP-9 expression (Jiang et al., 2010). Recently, Wang et al. (2018) found that Sal B attenuated Ang II-induced myocardial fibrosis by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway.