The Association of Visfatin Levels With Metabolic Parameters and Inflammation in Diabetic Nephropathy

Abstract

To investigate the visfatin levels at the stages of diabetic nephropathy(DNP), changes in visfatin levels according to stages of DNP, and the association of visfatin levels with other anti-inflammatory parameters including high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNFα). Patients were divided into 4 groups based on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and albuminuria as follows; Group I: Albuminuria<30 mg per day and GFR>60ml/min, Group II:albuminuria 30 to 300 mg per day and GFR>60ml/min, Group III:albuminuria>300mg per day and GFR>60ml/min, and Group IV: Albuminuria>300 mg per day and GFR<60 ml/min. Of the 141 patients included in the study, 83(58.8%) were female. The mean age of patients was 55.3±8.2 years. Microalbuminuria was found to be 10.1±9.8 mg per day in group I, 89.4±68.2 mg per day in group II, 525.1±280.7 mg per day in group III, and 1034±1893 mg per day in group IV (p<0.001). When the correlation analysis was repeated separately in each group, there was a positive correlation between Visfatin and IL-6 levels in only group III (r=0.926; p<0.001). When the patients in group III and IV were combined in a single group and considered as macro-albuminuric, multivariate analysis showed that visfatin had a positive correlation with IL-6 (r=0.380, p=0.006) In this study, we could not determine any association between visfatin levels and other anti-inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNFα, and hsCRP). However, we found a close relationship between visfatin levels and IL-6 which is one of the most important markers of inflammation in diabetic patients with overt nephropathy, namely macro-albuminuric patients. © 2020, Yuzuncu Yil Universitesi Tip Fakultesi. All rights reserved.