Fig 2: Knockdown of CREB5 sensitized HK2 cells to AGE-induced apoptosis. A Immunoblotting showed that siCREB5 significantly reduced CREB5 protein in HK2 cells. B CREB5 knockdown markedly enhanced the AGE-induced activation of caspase-3 and PARP1. All the results represent the data from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; #p < 0.05, statistical significance

Fig 3: CREB5 and FXR knockdown aggravated AGE-induced EMT in HK2 cells. Immunoblotting of fibronectin, vimentin, E-cadherin in HK2 cells treated with siCREB5 (A) and siFXR (B) for 24 h, followed by treatment with 200 µg/ml AGE for 24 h. The results represent the data from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; #p < 0.05; ###p < 0.001. statistically significant

Fig 4: Representative images of FXR (A) and CREB5 (B) immunostaining (green) in the cortex region of the kidney from DKD and MCD patients. The white arrows denote the nuclear localization of FXR or CREB5