Association of serum interleukin-18 and C-reactive protein with urinary albumin excretion rate in diabetic nephropathy

Objective To observe the change of serum interleukin(IL)-18 and C-reactive protein(C-RP), and the correlation of IL-18 and C-RP with urinary protein in pantients with diabetic nephropathy. Methods A total of 30 subjects of early diabetic nephropathy (DN),30 subjects of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes without proteinuria (DM),and 30 healthy control subjects (NC) were recruited.Urinary albumin excretion rate,serum IL-18 and C-RP were detected,and association of serum interleukin-18 and C-reactive protein with urinary albumin excretion rate was analysed.Results (1) The levels of serum IL-18 and C-RP in DM and DN group were higher than NC group(all P0.05),with the above levels in DN group increasing more obviously,and the difference between the groups was significant in statistics. (2) The linear correlation analysis showed that the levels of C-RP(r= 0.317,P0.05) and IL-18(r = 0.457,P0.01) correlated positively with UAER.Conclusions The increased levels of serum C-RP and IL-18 might be predictors for progression of diabetic nephropathy.