VEGFA and diabetes mellitus: Within this context, in another model of experimental diabetes induced in rodents, namely rats exposed to a single intravenous injection of streptozotocin (STZ), we previously demonstrated that, following a PKC β-mediated phosphorylation, the ELAV/HuR binds to VEGF-A mRNA and positively affects its expression in the retina, thus contributing to abnormally enhanced VEGF-A content in the retinal tissue (Amadio et al., 2010).