VEGFA and diabetic kidney disease: In addition, PKC regulates the expression of a variety of cytokines and growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) (Tanase et al., 2022), which are involved in pathological processes such as dysfunction of glomerular endothelial cells and proliferation of thylakoid cells, and increased synthesis of extracellular matrix during the development of DKD.