In the current study, we demonstrated that inflammation factors, including IL-6, TNF and TGF-β1 in serum samples of ZnT8-KO-STZ and ZnT8-KO-db/db mice were significantly increased, which suggested that these inflammation factors together with ZnT8 dysfunction may play an important role in the progression of DKD. This evidence concerns the gene SLC30A8 and diabetic kidney disease.