FASLG and Myocardial fibrosis: Activation of NF-κB can upregulate the expression of fibrosis-related factors, including transforming growth factor b1 (TGF-b1) and MMP-2, and increase Fas-ligand (Fas-L) expression to induce Fas-L–mediated apoptosis in the myocardium of diabetic rats, which leads to myocardial fibrosis (Darville and Eizirik, 2001; Chen et al., 2003; Hein et al., 2003).