Estimation of human erythropoietin and visfatin serum levels and their relation with nephropathy development in type 2 diabetic patients

The much more frequent cause of diabetic nephropathy is type 2 diabetes. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decreases due to type 2 diabetic nephropathy, and protein excretion in the urine (especially albumin) increases. As a result, end-stage renal failure takes hold. Microalbuminuria is present in people with diabetes, those with a GFR less than 60 (mL/min/1.73m2), and those with severe DKD. The case-control study included 180 volunteers undergoing medical follow-up at Salah El-Din General Hospital; they have divided into two groups, the foremost group of 60 T2DM patients without nephropathy and the second group of 60 T2DM patients with nephropathy. In the Control group, T2DM without nephropathy patients, and T2DM with nephropathy patients, the results of EPO, VF, and other biomarkers showed a statistically significant difference was found between control vs. each patients groups and between the first patients group vs. second patients group (p-value ≤ 0.001) for each variable separately, and Erythropoietin correlated negatively with microalbuminuria, ACR, and HbA1c, respectively, and VS correlated positively with HbA1c. In conclusion, Erythropoietin & Visfatin rises in patients with T2DM without nephropathy, and Visfatin increases in T2DM with nephropathy patients while EPO starts to decrease in the same category. Keywords: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Diabetic nephropathy, Erythropoietin, Visfatin