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Published on: May 2, 2025
Urinary inflammatory cytokines as indicators of kidney damage in type 2 diabetic patients
Manuela Borges Sangoi1, José Antonio M de Carvalho2, Etiane Tatsch3
1Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil; Department of Health Sciences, Integrated Regional University of High Uruguay and Missions, Santiago, RS, Brazil; Pharmaceutical Sciences Postgraduate Program, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
Background:
The aim of this study was to investigate whether urinary levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) are altered in normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and whether these cytokines are able to identify diabetic kidney disease (DKD) among these patients.
Methods:
This study included 125 T2DM patients classified into 3 groups according to urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (uACR): uACR <10mg/g creatinine, uACR 10-30mg/g creatinine and uACR >30mg/g creatinine. Urinary inflammatory cytokines were measured.
Results:
The urinary IL-6 concentrations increased from uACR <10 (97.2±26.4pg/ml) to uACR 10-30 (113.6±28.0pg/ml) and to uACR >30mg/g creatinine (163.5±25.6pg/ml) (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively) patients. The urinary IL-10 concentrations decreased in these uACR ranges [100.0 (58.0-141.0) pg/ml vs. 62.0 (54.5-71.5) pg/ml vs. 42.0 (32.0-48.0) pg/ml] (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). All urinary cytokines demonstrated good ability to identify DKD (areas under curves >0.9).
Conclusions:
Urinary inflammatory cytokines, especially IL-6 and IL-10, may assist in the identification of DKD in T2DM patients, even in the absence of micro- and macroalbuminuria.
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