Early examination has shown that chalcone inhibited TGF‐β1‐induced fibrosis on diabetic nephropathy.52, 53 Here, we found that the chalcone FKA decreased the expression of fibronectin and down‐regulated MMP‐9/‐2 and up‐regulated TIMP‐1 expression in TGF‐β1‐stimulated A7r5 cells, which indicated that FKA might target both TGF‐β1 and its downstream pro‐fibrotic proteins. The gene discussed is FN1; the disease is diabetic kidney disease.