AKT1 and diabetic kidney disease: Previously, we demonstrated that BSTL significantly reduced 24 h urinary protein and serum creatinine (Scr) levels and improved renal function in patients with DKD [20, 21], and we further confirmed that BSTL inhibited podocyte apoptosis by regulating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) pathway in kk-Ay mice [22].