STAT1 and diabetes mellitus: In addition to albumin, several diabetes-related substrates such as HG, advanced glycation end-products, and angiotensin II may activate a number of signaling pathways including nuclear factor kappa B, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases, protein kinase C, STAT1, and ROS generation, leading to the accumulation of numerous growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules in the interstitium to orchestrate further inflammation and fibrosis (Figure 1) (Donadelli et al., 2003; Tang et al., 2003; Tang and Lai, 2012).