The Smad2:Smad3 ratio was also consistently higher in the kidneys of TC‐treated mice than in vehicle‐treated mice throughout the course of infection, apparently driven primarily by suppression of Smad3. Although phosphorylation of Smad2 and Smad3 is required for these transcription factors to translocate to the nucleus and promote transcription of ECM components (Meng et al., 2016), we were unable to successfully quantify phospho‐Smad2/3 in the whole kidney despite several approaches. The gene discussed is SMAD3; the disease is infection.