However, our recent study showed that the 5/6 Nx mice had much worse AVF patency than the sham mice, suggesting that CKD can facilitate AVF failure.83 Studies have demonstrated that MMPs are involved in the pathogenesis of CKD.84, 85 To avoid the effect of MMP-3 on CKD, we performed AVF in the non-CKD mice, which allow us to more specifically study the role of MMP-3 in AVF neointimal hyperplasia failure. The gene discussed is MMP3; the disease is chronic kidney disease.