CCN2 and chronic kidney disease: We found that 10 pro-fibrotic genes (Tgfα1, PAI-1, Tgif1, IL-1α, IL-1β, Agt, Ctgf, Akt1, Smad3 and Timp3) were upregulated while two anti-fibrotic genes (Bmp7 and IL-13Rα2) were downregulated in 14-week-old CKD mice versus sham mice [12].