CAV1 and diabetic kidney disease: Arya et al. found that, in rats with diabetic nephropathy, the highly expressed Cav-1 can bind to nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and inhibit its signal transduction, thereby reducing the production of NO and eventually leading to increased level of serum urea nitrogen, blood creatinine and urine protein, whereas the above changes can be reversed by Cav-1 inhibitors (Arya et al., 2011).