Podocalyxin as an early marker predicting diabetic nephropathy and its correlation with stages of diabetic nephropathy in type two diabetic patients

Abstract Background Nephropathy, a major complication of diabetes, is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease. Early identification of nephropathy in diabetes patients is crucial because it creates opportunity for preventing the incidence of DN and/or even slows down the process of end-stage renal disease attributed to diabetes. Human podocytes (Pods) have been demonstrated to be functionally and structurally injured in the natural history of diabetic nephropathy. Aim of the Work To evaluate the possible association between the urinary podocalyxin levels and severity and grade of diabetic nephropathy and to use urinary podocalyxin as a non-invasive marker for early stage of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 DM. Patients and Methods We collected 60 known clinically and biochemically type 2 diabetic patients.20 diabetic patients with no evidence of diabetic nephropathy, 20 patients diagnosed as diabetic nephropathy in microalbuminuria stages and 20 patients diagnosed as diabetic nephropathy in macroalbuminuria stages from Ain Shams University hospitals between April and December 2018 and 20 apparently healthy volunteers will included as a control group. Results Urinary PCX was significantly higher in patients group compared to control group. Urinary PCX was significantly higher in microalbuminuric group than in normoalbuminuric group and higher in macroalbuminuric group than in microalbuminuric group. There was a positive significant correlation between FBS, 2HrPP, HBA1C and urinary PCX. There was a positive significant correlation between s.create and urinary PCX. There was a positive significant correlation between ACR and urinary PCX. Conclusion Urinary podocalyxin seems to be beneficial as an early marker for early stages of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 DM patients.