EGR1 and diabetic kidney disease: EGR1, which is recognized as a relevant “conductor for tissue repair orchestra” [110], is functionally interconnected with heparanase in both physiological (e.g. development, vascularization) and pathological (e.g. fibrosis, diabetic nephropathy, vascular proliferative disorders, cancer) conditions involving extracellular matrix remodeling, angiogenesis and cell mobilization [30, 97, 111, 122].