NF-κB is known to be activated in both patients with kidney disease (diabetic nephropathy,18 glomerular disease19) and animal models of renal inflammation and injury.8 NF-κB is considered to promote inflammation during renal disease with evidence correlating NF-κB activation to the severity of renal disease.18, 20 However, most of the reports are limited to the function of the NF-κB heterodimer, RelA/p50, while the function of other NF-κB complexes in renal disease is still not clear. Here, RELA is linked to diabetic kidney disease.