ACTA1 and renal fibrosis: In the current study, this specially cultivated C. militaris attenuates TGF-β1 expression to reduce fibrotic markers such as α-SMA, COL1, CTGF, TIMP-1 and fibronectin, and increases the expression of anti-fibrotic proteins such as Smad7 and E-cadherin to limit DM-induced renal fibrosis in a T2DM mouse model.