Further, immunohistochemical staining of PTEN and RT-qPCR of miR-382 in renal biopsy sections from patients with IgA nephropathy (with or without TIF) as well as protein expression of PTEN and its downstream AKT in kidney from mouse AAN model both in WT and miR-382 KO mice also substantiated this relationship. Here, PTEN is linked to Balkan nephropathy.