Our finding that clusterin co-localised with the podocyte marker WT1 in mice is also consistent with our clusterin immunostaining results in renal biopsies obtained from patients with DN, indicating that podocytes are the clusterin-expressing cell type in glomeruli, which is consistent with reports that clusterin expression is upregulated in various epithelial cells during stress30,31. This evidence concerns the gene WT1 and liver dysplastic nodule.