Clinical value of the joint measurement of serum concentrations of type IV collagen and laminin in patients with diabetic nephropathy

Objective To study clinical value of the joint measurement of serum concentrations of type Ⅳ collagen (ⅣC) and laminin (LN) in patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Methods Serum concentrations of ⅣC,LN were measured by RIA in 35 diabetic patients with normalbuminuria (group A),28 cases of microalbuminuria (group B),15 cases of macroalbuminuria (group C) and 30 normal subjects as control. Results The serum concentrations of ⅣC,LN in total 78 diabetic patients [(97.6±19.2),(132.4±31.5) μg/L] were higher than that of the controls [(77.4±8.2),(101.5±17.6) μg/L,P 0.05],especially in group B and C,it was remarkablely higher compared with the controls ( P 0.05,P 0.01). There was significant positive correlation of serum ⅣC,LN to diabetic duration and the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN),creatinine (Cr),urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER). Conclusions The results suggest that the joint measurement of serum levels of ⅣC,LN and UAER in DN patients might better evaluate the development process of DN,and be of help for early diagnosis and treatment of DN. Serum levels of ⅣC,LN and UAER in DN patients may become the reliable clinical markers for assessing the severity and predicting the prognosis of DN.