We acknowledge that a portion of the data presented in this article was previously shared as a preprint on Research Square under the title “DDIT4 mediated autophagy and ferroptosis through VDR-mTOR signaling pathway in the treatment of diabetic kidney disease”, available at the following link: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2314736/v1. Here, MTOR is linked to diabetic kidney disease.