Means and methods for treating and diagnosing fibrosis or fibrosis-associated diseases

A method for treating or ameliorating a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-related disease, wherein said MMP-related disease comprises tissue remodeling in a benign or malignant disease where MMP activation contributes to the pathophysiology, in a patient in need thereof, the method comprising administering to the patient a therapeutically effective dose of a protein oligomer comprising (i) at least two NC-1 monomers of collagen 18 or (ii) at least two endostatin domains of collagen 18 or (iii) at least two N-terminal peptides of the collagen 18 endostatin domain, thereby, treating or ameliorating said matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-related disease in the patient,

• wherein the NC-1 monomer of human collagen 18 comprises a heterologous oligomerization domain comprising an Fc domain from knobs-into-holes (KiH)-engineered human IgG, a hinge region and/or an endostatin domain or fragments of said endostatin domain and, optionally, a recombinant protease cleavage site within the hinge region.