Objective：To explore the difference of human antigen R（HuR） expression in patients with diabetic kidney disease（DKD） at different stages. Methods：A total of 165 DKD patients diagnosed by renal biopsy admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2014 to May 2019 were enrolled，and 16 patients with renal carcinoma were included. The expression of HuR in the kidney was detected by immunohistochemistry. According to pathological classification of diabetic kidney disease，the expressions of HuR in each stage were compared by the Kruskal-Wallis test. Spearman’s rank correlation was performed for correlation analysis between HuR level and clinical factors. Results：The expression of HuR in the kidney was increased compared with paracancerous tissues of patients with renal carcinoma. HuR was mainly expressed in the nucleus， and partly in the cytoplasm. There were significant differences between diabetic kidney disease stage Ⅱb and stage Ⅲ，stage Ⅱb and stage Ⅳ，stage Ⅲ and stage Ⅳ（P < 0.05），but no difference between stage Ⅱa and stage Ⅱb was observed. HuR expression was positively correlated with age，serum creatinine，urea nitrogen，serum uric acid，C-reactive protein and parathyroid hormone（PTH），and negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate（eGFR），hemoglobin，glycosylated hemoglobin and 1，25-（OH）2-vitamin D3. Conclusion：The expression of HuR is positively related to the severity of pathological stages（Ⅱb，Ⅲ，Ⅳ）. The expression of HuR is correlated with clinical indicators of renal function.