To investigate the protective effects of JSD on kidney damage, in particular renal fibrosis (a main symptom of DN), we evaluated the mRNA and protein (Fig. 3b) expression of renal fibrosis regulating factors (PKC-α, TGF-β1, and α-SMA by both quantitative PCR and western blot analysis. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is renal fibrosis.