Serum Podoplanin Levels as a Potential Biomarker for Diabetic Nephropathy Progression: A Cross-Sectional Study

The study aimed to investigate the impact of serum Podoplanin levels on diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Between January 2022 and December 2023, the Department of Nephrology at Nantong Second People's Hospital selected 276 patients with T2DM and 150 healthy controls for this investigation. Systematic data collection was performed to gather information on biomarkers and biochemical parameters.

When T2DM patients (n=276) and healthy controls (n=150) were compared, considerably lowered serum Podoplanin levels were observed. In all 276 patients, serum Podoplanin levels were negatively associated with age (r=-0.127, P=0.035), body mass index (BMI) (r=-0.292, P<0.001), duration of diabetes (r=-0.323, P<0.001), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (r=-0.255, P<0.001), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r=-0.138, P=0.022), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (r=-0.196, P=0.001), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (r=-0.095, P=0.117), triglyceride (TG) (r=-0.157, P=0.009), total cholesterol (TC) (r=-0.126, P=0.036), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (r=-0.187, P=0.002), serum creatinine (Scr) (r=-0.500, P<0.001), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) (r=-0.339, P<0.001), and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) (r=-0.568, P<0.001), and was positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (r=0.343, P<0.001) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (r=0.442, P<0.001). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that diabetic patients with DN had lowered levels of serum Podoplanin (OR=0.022, 95% CI=0.005-0.100; P<0.001), lower SBP, Scr, NGAL, and KIM-1.

The results indicated that diabetic patients with DN have lower levels of serum Podoplanin. A more considerable population-based prospective investigation is essential to validate our findings.