Podocytes injury in DKD is induced by many compound factors, such as inflammatory reaction, mechanical stress, oxidative stress, renin angiotensin aldosterone system activation, TGF-β1 induction, and AGEs accumulation, and any part of the pathway is expected to be the target of DKD therapy (Kawanami et al., 2016). Here, TGFB1 is linked to diabetic kidney disease.