Clinical significance of serum interleukin-18 and C-reactive protein in early diagnosis of nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes

Objective To explore the relationship between serum levels of interleukin-18,CRP and type 2 diabetes mellitus as well as renal impairment.Methods One hundred and five patients with type 2 diabetes were allocated into 3 groups as normal albuminuria,microalbuminuria and clinical albuminuria groups according to their urinary albumin excretion rate(UAER).Forty healthy individuals with similar age range were selected as normal controls.The serum levels of interleukin-18 and CRP were observed,and correlation analysis was also done between IL-18 and CRP.Results The serum levels of IL-18 and CRP in patients with type 2 diabetes were significantly higher than those of controls(P0.05 andP0.01).Pearson correlation analysis indicated that IL-18 was positively correlated to CRP and mALB(r=0.453,P0.01 and r=0.579,P0.01).Conclusion Serum IL-18 is an important inflammatory mediator in the process and development of diabetic nephropathy.The increased serum levels of IL-18 and CRP have important significance in early development of nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.