AKT1 and diabetic kidney disease: PI3K can activate its downstream molecule Akt, which further phosphorylates fox OS, GSK-3, Bad, mTOR, and other proteins to cause a cascade reaction that plays a key role in the accumulation of extracellular matrix, mesangial cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transformation, and other aspects of diabetic nephropathy [71, 72].