The balance between local offense factors and defense machinery determines
the fate of tissue injury: progression or resolution. In glomerular researc
h, the most interest has been on the offensive side, for example, the roles
of leukocytes, platelets, complement, cytokines, eicosanoids, and oxygen r
adical intermediates. There has been little focus on the defensive side, wh
ich is responsible for the attenuation and resolution of disease. The aim o
f this review is to address possible mechanisms of local defense that may b
e exerted during glomerular injury. Cytokine inhibitors, proteinase inhibit
ors, complement regulatory proteins, anti-inflammatory cytokines, anti-infl
ammatory eicosanoids, antithrombotic molecules, and extracellular matrix pr
oteins can participate in the extracellular and/or cell surface defense. He
at shock proteins, antioxidants, protein phosphatases, and cyclin kinase in
hibitors may contribute to the intracellular defense. This article outlines
how the glomerulus, when faced with injurious cells or exposed to pathogen
ic mediators, defends itself via the intrinsic machinery that is brought in
to play in resident glomerular cells.