TGFB1 and diabetes mellitus: As such, similar protein levels of aquaporin 1, a marker of PTECs, was observed in uEVs from healthy subjects, diabetics without evidence of renal injury and DKD patients, while CD73, an early target of the profibrotic TGF-β cascade, was enriched in uEVs of patients with nephropathy as compared with the other groups, suggesting its possible use to evaluate diabetic renal tubular alterations before eGFR declines [83].