Evaluation of serum endocan as a marker of diabetic nephropathy

Abstract

Introduction Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a significant medical problem because of its increasing incidence, morbidity and mortality. DN is a microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) that has been observed in 30%–40% of type 1 DM and 10%–20% of type 2 DM patients. Recent studies focus on novel diagnosis and treatment strategies for DN to decrease its mortality and morbidity. New biomarkers such as endocan are considered to be associated with endothelial dysfunction, angiogenesis and inflammation and may be reliable markers for early detection and progression of DN. Aim This study aimed to establish the role of endocan as a marker of DN similar to the case with the urine albumin–creatinine ratio. Patients and methods This study has been carried out on 60 diabetic patients selected from the inpatient department and outpatient clinics of the Department of Internal Medicine in Dikirnis General Hospital and 30 healthy controls who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected participants were divided into three groups: group 1 included 30 healthy controls, group 2 included 30 diabetic patients with normoalbuminuria and group 3 included 30 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria or macroalbuminuria. Results In this study, there was no correlation between endocan and serum creatinine levels as well as estimated glomerular filtration rate in diabetic patients with proteinuria. Patients with microalbuminuria in this study had insignificantly lower endocan levels (111.9±85.7) than patients with normoalbuminuria (130.7±76.3). Conclusion Here, in this study, serum endocan did not have considerable specificity or sensitivity in early detection or progression of DN.