Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Public Health 2251-6085 50 12 2021 11 30 2536 2545 Zhiying Ding Emergency Department, Weifang People’s Hospital, Weifang 261041, China Hongxia Jiang Department of Endocrinology, The Third People’s Hospital of Qingdao, Qingdao 266041, China Yongsong Fan Education Management Department, Affiliated Qingdao Central Hospital, Qingdao University, China Guiqin Sun Department of Endocrinology, The Third People’s Hospital of Qingdao, Qingdao 266041, China 2021 03 23 2021 07 18 Background: To evaluate the inhibitory effect of adalimumab on diabetic nephropathyDN) through animal models. Methods: We carried out the study in Weifang People’s Hospital, Weifang 261041, China in December 2020. Streptozotocin was used to induce DN in model animal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The DN animal model was given treatment with adalimumab, and the inhibitory effect of adalimumab on the development process of DN was evaluated by detecting changes in blood glucose and urinary albumin levels. Meanwhile, the content of UN, Cr and CysC of the blood in different experimental groups was tested by weighing the ratio of kidney and performing ELISA to evaluate the protective effect of adalimumab on kidney of DN animal model. In addition, the changes in the transcription and translation levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and its downstream regulatory factors MCP-1 and NF-kB in kidney of different experimental groups were detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR and Western blot tests to further reveal the molecular mechanism of adalimumab inhibiting the diabetic nephropathy. Results: adalimumab could significantly downregulate blood glucose and urinary albumin levels (P <0.05). The renal body weight ratio and the contents of UN, Cr and Cysc in blood in the adalimumab group were significantly lower than those in the placebo group (P <0.05). Meanwhile, adalimumab could significantly downregulate the expression of these molecules (P <0.05). Conclusion: adalimumab could exert its therapeutic effect on diabetic nephropathy through its specific targeting TNF-α signaling pathways. https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/24271 https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/download/24271/7445