Integrins control many cell functions, including generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and regulation of collagen synthesis. Mesangial cells, found in the glomerulus of the kidney, are able to produce large amounts of ROS via the NADPH oxidase. We previously demonstrated that integrin ␣1-null mice develop worse fibrosis than wild-type mice following glomerular injury and this is due, in part, to excessive ROS production by ␣1-null mesangial cells. In the present studies, we describe the mechanism whereby integrin ␣1-null mesangial cells produce excessive ROS. Integrin ␣1-null mesangial cells have constitutively increased basal levels of activated Rac1, which result in its increased translocation to the cell membrane, excessive ROS production, and consequent collagen IV deposition. Basal Rac1 activation is a direct consequence of ligand-independent increased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation in ␣1-null mesangial cells. Thus, our study demonstrates that integrin ␣11-EGFR cross talk is a key step in negatively regulating Rac1 activation, ROS production, and excessive collagen synthesis, which is a hallmark of diseases characterized by irreversible fibrosis.Integrin ␣11, a major collagen binding receptor, is expressed in different cell types, including fibroblasts (45), endothelial cells (8), and mesangial cells in the glomerulus of the kidney (30, 53). Integrin ␣11 confers the ability of cells to bind to collagenous substrata, including collagens I and IV (4, 45), and to proliferate on these substrata (45). Moreover, cells expressing integrin ␣11 sense extracellular levels of collagen and downregulate its synthesis at both transcriptional and translational levels (4,14). Finally, we demonstrated that integrin ␣11 also downregulates the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) (4, 58).Following renal injury, mice lacking integrin ␣11 develop more extensive glomerular fibrosis characterized by excessive accumulation of collagen type IV compared to wild-type (WT) mice (4, 58). Increased fibrosis is due to both a direct effect of the lack of integrin ␣11-mediated downregulation of collagen IV synthesis and excessive ROS production by ␣1-null mesangial cells.Constitutive production of ROS by mesangial cells, a major cell type found in the glomerulus of the kidney, originates from an intrinsic NADPH oxidase (26, 48) that normally functions at a low level and increases in response to inflammatory stimuli, high glucose, or stress (25,34,35,37,55). The NADPH oxidase, highly characterized in phagocytes, is a multicomponent enzyme complex that consists of the membrane-bound cytochrome b 558 (p22 phox and gp91 phox ) and cytoplasmic proteins (p40 phox , p47 phox , p67 phox ) that translocate to the membrane following cellular stimulation to produce superoxide (3, 9, 47). A multicomponent phagocyte-like NADPH oxidase is also a major source of ROS in many nonphagocytic cells, including mesangial cells. In the phagocyte-like NADPH oxidase, the catalytic subunits are termed Nox proteins, with ...