The primary signaling pathways that promote the progression of DKD involve autophagy in podocytes, including the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt), extracellular regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK/MAPK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Janus protein tyrosine kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathways [78,79,80,81,82,83]. This evidence concerns the gene AKT1 and diabetic kidney disease.