CFB and diabetic kidney disease: TEM examination revealed that the effacement of podocyte foot processes and severe thickening and irregular shape of the GBM were largely ameliorated by CFB knockdown (average thickness of GBM: control 166.16 nm, STZ+shNC 577.26 nm, STZ+shCFB 196.98 nm), and the mitochondrial damage in tubules from STZ-induced DKD mice was also obviously ameliorated in response to CFB knockdown (percentage of damaged mitochondria: STZ+shNC 63%, STZ+shCFB 22%) (Figure 2F).