Autophagy plays a positive role in the treatment of DKD, studies have shown that triptolide down-regulates the expression of miR-141-3p and miR-188-5p, causing the up-regulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression, affecting the expression of downstream pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoform 1 (PDK1), Akt, and mTOR, thus improving the level of autophagy, which in turn reduces the proliferation and fibrosis of mesangial cells [190,191,192]. The gene discussed is PDK1; the disease is diabetic kidney disease.