In terms of diabetic nephropathy, Nakamura et al (142) reported that the long-term supplementation of taurine, (3 g per day) did not have any effect on the phenotype of patients with microalbuminuria related to type 2 diabetes within 12 months, as demonstrated by the relative expression levels of fibrotic markers [serum collagen IV and plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP)-9]. Here, MMP9 is linked to diabetic kidney disease.