TGFB1 and diabetic kidney disease: Dugan et al. (2013) verified that in several diabetic nephropathy mouse models, the activation of AMPK dramatically reduced glomerular TGF-β, fibronectin, and collagen accumulation. In addition, several studies have identified the activation of mTOR in diabetic kidney disease (Gödel et al., 2011). mTOR inhibition plays a protective role in diabetic kidney disease, leading to the suppression of kidney fibrosis (Gödel et al., 2011).