IL6 and diabetic kidney disease: To explore the metabolic state of renal macrophages during DKD, we used db/db mice, which, in comparison with db/m mice, show enhanced expression of both fibrosis (FN, α-SMA and Col-I) and inflammation (IL-6) markers by qRT-PCR (Fig. 1A) and immunohistochemical staining (Fig. 1B).