Increased expression of HIF-1 and its target genes has been found in fibrotic areas of microdissected kidney tissues from DN patients (Higgins et al., 2007), and the upregulation of HIF-1α has been detected in hypertensive DN kidneys of mice with renal fibrosis (Jiao et al., 2018). This evidence concerns the gene HIF1A and liver dysplastic nodule.