Renalase might be associated with hypertension and insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetes

Renalase, a monoamine oxidase derived from the kidney, can degrade catecholamine (CA) and regulate blood pressure as well as cardiac function. To investigate the changes of serum renalase levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and examine the correlation with other features of T2DM.

Seventy-five patients with T2DM and 13 healthy volunteers were studied. The levels of serum renalase and CA were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Several other biochemical and clinical parameters were measured.

Serum levels of CA and renalase as well as renalase/CA (R/C) ratio in the T2DM group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p<0.05). There was a highly positive correlation between the levels of serum renalase and CA (r=0.795, p<0.001). The levels of serum renalase were positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r=0.217, p=0.042) and serum creatinine (SCr) (r=0.295, p=0.007), and negatively correlated with eGFR (r=-0.222, p=0.044). The R/C ratio was positively correlated with SCr (r=0.347, p=0.001) as well as homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (IR) HOMA2-% S (r=0.340, p=0.037).

Serum levels of renalase and CA were highly correlated in patients with T2DM. The levels of serum renalase and R/C ratio of T2DM patients were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects and appeared correlated with changes in blood pressure, glomerular filtration rate and IR.