Diabetic nephropathy (
DN
) is a complication of diabetes mellitus (
DM
) that frequently results in renal disease, and is characterized by a variety of symptoms, including albuminuria. It has been shown that apoptosis of glomerular mesangial cells (
MC
s) can aggravate albuminuria and contribute to the development of diabetic glomerulosclerosis. Hence, determination of the mechanisms leading to
MC
apoptosis may help us gain insights into the pathogenesis of
DN
. As our understanding of the role of high glucose (
HG
) in
MC
apoptosis remains elusive, we explored the interplay between X‐box binding protein 1 (
XBP
1) and
MC
apoptosis in this study.
XBP
1 was observed to be downregulated both
in vivo
and
in vitro
. Treatment of
XBP
1‐overexpressing cells with
HG
resulted in a decrease of reactive oxygen species (
ROS
) and a suppression of cell apoptosis, concomitant with decreases in cleaved caspase‐3 and Bax. Subsequent analyses demonstrated that
XBP
1 overexpression inhibited the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (
PTEN
) and enhanced the activation of
AKT
in
MC
s exposed to
HG
. In addition,
XBP
1‐induced injuries in
MC
were reversed by overexpression of
PTEN
, and
XBP
1 inhibited apoptosis, which was mediated by the activated
PTEN
/
AKT
signaling pathway. Thus, our data indicate that
XBP
1 can activate the
PTEN
/
AKT
signaling pathway, thereby alleviating oxidative stress caused by
HG
or
MC
apoptosis. These findings suggest that
XBP
1 may have potential in the development of treatment methods for
DN
.