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Subject Area

Radiology and Imaging Sciences

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate serum liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) level as an early biomarker of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in type-2 diabetic patients. Background Tubular hypoxia upregulates the expression of the L-FABP gene in the kidney and increases the urinary excretion of L-FABP from the proximal tubules. Thus, in early stage DN, it is possible that chronic hypoxia could have induced an increase in urinary excretion of L-FABP. Patients and methods This was a case–control study that included ninety patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus selected from Military Hospital and Menoufia University Hospital who were divided into three groups: the first group comprised diabetic patients with microalbuminuria, second group comprised diabetic patients with macroalbuminuria, and the third group comprised nondiabetic patients with chronic kidney disease. A fourth group of healthy participants served as the control group. Results We found a significant increase of urinary L-FABP level in microalbuminuric diabetic patients and a significant positive correlation between urinary L-FABP level and the duration of diabetes. By using receiver operating characteristics curve analysis, calcium level at a cutoff point (≤8.3) discriminated patients with microalbuminuria from patients with macroalbuminuria, with excellent accuracy, sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 96%. Conclusion We conclude that the L-FABP level could be a suitable biomarker for early detection with good value to detect DN in patients with type-2 diabetes.

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