Accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the glomerular mesangium is a common feature of many progressive renal diseases. Angiotensin II (AngII) plays important roles in the proliferation of glomerular mesangial cells (MC) as well as the synthesis of ECM such as fibronectin (FN) and collagens. However, the precise molecular signals responsiblefor these effects are unknown. To explore possible molecule mechanism of ECM accumulation related to AngII, suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was performed to screen and identify upregulated genes induced by AngII in cultured human MC. A novel gene, AngRem104 (GenBank accession number, AF367870), was isolated. The full-length cDNA of AngRem104 is 1690 bp, and it contains a 1041-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding 347 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 37.2kD. AngRem104 widely expressed in human heart, placenta, liver, muscle, kidney, and pancreas. Moreover, AngRem104 was found in human glomeruli