Objective: The present study was undertaken to measure serum levels of adiponectin and CD146, an endothelial cell injury marker, and to clarify the property of adiponectin and CD146 in patients with diabetic nephropathy.
Design: A total of 280 diabetic patients, and 49 control subjects were enrolled. Serum levels of adiponectin and CD146 were measured by ELISA.
Results: Serum adiponectin levels were relatively low in the diabetic patients as compared to the control subjects. Inversely, serum adiponectin levels were significantly greater in those with stages IV and V of diabetic nephropathy than the control subjects. Serum CD146 levels were gradually increased according to the progression of diabetic nephropathy, and that in the stages IIIb-V was significantly greater than that in the control group. Serum adiponectin positively correlated with serum creatinine and negatively correlated with 1/creatinine. Similar results were obtained with serum CD146 levels. However, there was no relationship between serum adiponectin and CD146 levels.
Conclusion: These results indicate that serum adiponectin levels seem to reduce in the diabetic patients, and finally increase in end stage of diabetic nephropathy. In contrast, serum CD146 may closely associate with development of micro- and macrovascular complications in diabetic patients. Further study is required to elucidate the exact role of adiponectin and CD146 in the development of vascular complication in end stage of diabetic nephropathy.