N-Cadherin as a New Marker for Diagnosis of Diabetic Nephropathy

Abstract Background Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a highly prevalent condition worldwide. It represents one of the most frequent complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) and is the primary cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The early detection of inflammatory biomarkers is essential in reducing complications related to the disease. Objective To investigate N-Cadherin in serum as a screening and diagnostic indicator for assessing diabetic nephropathy in diabetic patients. Methods An observational study carried out in 6 months included 90 patients with type 2 diabetes mellites equally divided into 3 groups: Those without diabetic nephropathy (group 1), those with microalbuminuria (group 2), does with macroalbuminuria (group 3). Results N-cadherin levels were increased in diabetic nephropathy compared to those without diabetic nephropathy (p value: 0.000), and most importantly there is significant increase in N-cadherin level between microalbuminuria group and normoalbuminuric (p value: <0.001). Also this study revealed significant difference between reading of 3 groups regarding 2hPP, HbA1c, TC, LDL, BUN and creatinine (p value: 0.000, 0.005, 0.003, 0.003, 0.006 and 0.024 respectively). We found a significant negative correlation between N-cadherin and eGFR (P value: 0.014) which indicates that N-cadherin is an important marker in renal disease. Our study had given us an Abstract about the role of the N-cadherin in prediction of detecting DN early and in monitoring treatment outcomes. Conclusion This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting N-cadherin as a novel renal biomarker associated with increased albuminuria and decreased eGFR levels in type 2 diabetic patients which can be used as a valuable prognostic and diagnostic tool to slow down or even inhibit ESRD. The study has also demonstrated that N-cadherin levels increased in microalbuminuria group of diabetic nephropathy compared to those without diabetic nephropathy.