Reviews have indicated that several inflammatory factors are involved in DN inflammatory processes, such as nuclear transcription factors (NF-κB), pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-18 and TNF), chemokines (MCP-1, CXCL12, CX3CL1 and CX3CR1) adhesion molecules (ICAM1, VCAM1, E-selectin and α-actinin 4), and signaling molecules (STAT1,STAT3 and STAT5) are involved in DN inflammatory processes (17, 90). Here, TNF is linked to liver dysplastic nodule.