It has been proved that advanced glycation end products (AGEs) induced HMGB1 and promoted the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and TGF-β1 in renal epithelial HK-2 cells receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE)-dependently (Cheng et al., 2015), regulating the progress of renal fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy (Lynch et al., 2010). Here, TGFB1 is linked to diabetic kidney disease.