ATG5 and diabetic kidney disease: In our study, we also found that the expression of mitophagy-associated proteins, includingTOM20 and LC3 co-localization, ATG5, Beclin-1, and LC3, was upregulated in the db/db mice and high-glucose-cultured podocytes, indicating that mitophagy was enhanced in DKD, which means that excessive activation of mitophagy may also leads to phagocytosis and degradation of normal mitochondria by misrecognition, promoting the progression of DKD.