Renal fibrosis is a failed regenerative process that facilitates chronic kidney disease progression. The current study was designed to study the effect of erlotinib, a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, on the progression of renal fibrosis. The study included four groups of mice: control group; adenine group: received adenine (0.2% w/w) daily with food for 4 weeks; erlotinib group: received 80 mg/ kg/day erlotinib orally (6 ml/kg/day, 1.3% w/v suspension in normal saline 0.9%) for 4 weeks; adenine + erlotinib group: received adenine and erlotinib concurrently. Kidney function and antioxidant biomarkers were measured. Renal expression of Bcl2 and p53 and histopathological changes (tubular injury and renal fibrosis) were scored. Renal tissue levels of transforming growth factor-β 1 , p-ERK1/2 and p-STAT3 were measured. Results obtained showed significant decrease (P < 0.001) in serum creatinine, urea and uric acid in erlotinib + adenine group. Level of malondialdehyde was decreased significantly (P < 0.001) while reduced glutathione and catalase levels were increased (P < 0.01) by erlotinib concurrent administration. Erlotinib markedly reduced fibrosis and tubular injury and decreased TGF-β1, p-ERK1/2 and p-STAT3 (P < 0.5). In addition, expression level of Bcl-2 was elevated (P < 0.001) while that of p53-was reduced compared to adenine alone. Erlotinib can attenuate renal fibrosis development and progression through anti-fibrotic, antioxidant and antiapoptotic pathways. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health burden and is considered as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Its prevalence is correlated to many health problems as diabetes, hypertension and obesity 1, 2. Renal fibrosis is a failed regenerative process that facilitates the development of CKD. The progression of renal insufficiency in patients with CKD is mainly due to tubulointerstitial fibrosis, glomerular inflammation and tubular atrophy 3. Many cellular events are involved in tubulointerstitial fibrosis as infiltration of inflammatory cells, fibroblast activation, extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and microvascular rarefaction 4. Various mediators are involved in the development of CKD and may represent possible targets for therapy such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, nuclear factor-erythroid 2 related factor, peroxisome proliferatoractivated γ receptor, IL-11 and advanced glycation endproducts 5, 6. Recently, studies reported involvement of miRNA in the progression of CKD progression 7. Tyrosine kinases have a pivotal role in cell signalling, and their activity deregulation can promote the development and progression of fibrotic diseases. As a result, pathologic activation of tyrosine kinases can drive fibrogenesis 8. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a receptor tyrosine kinase, has been identified in renal tissue mainly in the epithelial cells of distal and collecting tubules, peritubular vessels and glomeruli with more abundant expression in diseased than in normal kidneys 9, 10. Activation of these r...