IL6 and diabetes mellitus: As expected, profibrotic genes such as collagens I, III, fibronectin and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), as well as proinflammatory genes such as interleukin 6 (IL6) and osteopontin (OPN), were increased in diabetic CDA1Flox/ERCre mice receiving vehicle, which had the presence of the CDA1 gene for the entire 10-week period of diabetes (Figure 4).