VEGFA and diabetic kidney disease: AGA has been shown to influence cell signaling and molecular mediators participation in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy including upregulation of the TGF-β1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) systems, stimulation of the production of matrix proteins, and activation of protein kinase (PK)C-β1 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) (Cohen and Ziyadeh 1994; Ziyadeh et al. 1998; Cohen et al. 1999; Chen et al. 2001; Cohen et al. 2001).