Urinary Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Levels as an Indicator of Early Kidney Injury in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Diabetic nephropathy is one of the major complications of diabetes mellitus. It is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a biomarker that increases before serum creatinine in early acute kidney injury. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that urinary NGAL levels may be elevated as an indicator of early diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Methods: A total of 78 patients (51 females and 27 males, mean age 57.74±8.97 years) were included in the study. The patient group consisted of 38 patients (24 females and 14 males, mean age 58.68±8.36 years) and the control group consisted of 40 healthy subjects (27 females and 13 males, mean age 56.85±9.53 years). The groups were compared according to anthropometric, demographic, biochemical data and urinary NGAL levels. Urinary NGAL levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: There was no significant difference in urinary NGAL levels between the patient and control groups (7.53±8.49, 9.04±9.98, p>0.05, respectively). Albumin/creatinine ratio were significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (0.14±0.09, 0.08±0.02, p<0.05, respectively). There was no significant correlation between urinary NGAL levels and disease duration, body mass index, glomerular filtration rate, waist circumference, albumin/creatinine ratio and HbA1c (p>0.05 for all).
Discussion and Conclusion: According to the results of our study, urinary NGAL levels do not have sufficient predictive value to identify early diabetic nephropathy.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin; diabetic nephropathy