Studies investigating cytosine methylation in renal samples of CKD patients and animal models of renal fibrosis-related diseases detected dramatic DNA methylation alterations on the promoters of a number of genes known to be related to kidney fibrosis4, while DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibition effectively corrected the abnormalities and attenuated renal fibrosis in animal studies1, 5, suggesting that the exploration of epigenetic DNA methylation of renal fibrosis might identify novel biomarkers and potential targets of anti-renal fibrosis therapies. The gene discussed is DNMT1; the disease is renal fibrosis.