NOX4 and diabetic kidney disease: In contrast, the UACR used in this study is more suitable for evaluating changes in proteinuria in early DKD.35 Previous pharmacological mechanism studies have indicated that the clinical benefit of KLX capsules in reducing proteinuria was related to the pharmacological effect of regulating podocyte autophagy and reducing podocyte injury.20 In addition, as the main ingredients of KLX, Astragalus was reported to inhibit the overexpression of eNOS; leeches can inhibit the expression of NOX4 in the kidney, and Fructus Lycii can regulate Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB).