ACTA1 and renal fibrosis: Utilizing quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR), we further examined the expression of numerous genes such as collagen-I, TGF-β1, fibronectin, α-SMA, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), and Snail1, which are all implicated in renal fibrosis through extracellular matrix accumulation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, or fibroblast activation [17].