Mahdieh Salimi - Department of Medical Genetics, Institute of Medical Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB)

BACKGROUND: The initiation and progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN) is complex. Quantification of mRNA expression in urinary sediment has emerged as a novel strategy for studying renal diseases. Considering the numerous molecules involved in DN development, the mRNA expression of a panel comprised of 7 genes (MCP-1, KIM1, MDM2, MST1, BMP7, SWV and IRS2) were analysed in urinary sediment cells of diabetic, diabetic nephropathy patients in early stage of the disease and normal control groups using Real- Time RT PCR. Methods: To quantify the mRNA expression of 7 genes panel in 150 individual comprised of diabetic, diabetic nephropathy patients in early stage of the disease and normal control groups, the Urinary cell pellet was collected from each study participant and after RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis the Real-Time RT-PCR was used. Results: Our data showed that the expression of MCP-1 , KIM1, SWV and IRS2 genes were significantly increased in diabetic nephropathy patients even at very early stages of the disease ( p ≤ 0.001). The expression of MDM2 and BMP7 were decreased in urinary sediment cells of DN compared with diabetes and control groups ( p ≤ 0.001) where as the expression of MST1 gene expression showed no significant difference in DN patients compared other groups (p< 0.05). Conclusion: In patients with diabetic nephropathy, urinary mRNA expression of MCP-1, KIM1, SWV and IRS2 genes correlated with baseline renal function. Our result suggests that serial measurement of urinary expression of these genes may have a value for the predict the personalized diabetic nephropathy risk or very early detection of renal injury in diabetic patients.

diabetic nephropathy, biomarker, early detection, risk assessment, urinary sediment cell