At the same time, in two additional experiments with high glucose induced podocytes, the expression of G-protein-coupled receptor 43 (GPR43) or sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5), both of which promoted autophagy via the ERK/EGR1 and SPAG5/AKT/mTOR signaling pathways, were inhibited by GPR43 gene knockout or SPAG5 gene silencing, it could be used as potential therapeutic targets for DKD (Xu et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2022). Here, AKT1 is linked to diabetic kidney disease.