CCN2 and chronic kidney disease: The NLRP3 knockout can attenuate renal dysfunction in a unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model of CKD, improve renal function, and alleviate inflammation and the level of CTGF (TGF-β1 and connective tissue growth factor) in STZ-induced diabetic mice (Guo et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2018).