Association of serum pentraxin 3 concentrations with diabetic nephropathy.

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3), a member of a superfamily of conserved proteins, attenuates renal damage in diabetic mice. This study aims to determine whether serum PTX3 concentrations are correlated with the presence of diabetic nephropathy (DN). A total of 160 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 54 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Patients with T2DM were divided into three groups in accordance with the levels of urinary albumin excretion (UAE). Serum PTX3 concentrations were determined using an ELISA kit. Serum PTX3 concentrations were significantly higher in patients with T2DM compared with the controls. Patients with T2DM with macroalbuminuria showed higher serum PTX3 concentrations compared with the other three groups. However, there were no significant differences of serum PTX3 concentrations between patients with T2DM with normoalbuminuria and microalbuminuria. Furthermore, a simple regression analysis has shown that serum PTX3 concentrations in patients with T2DM were negatively correlated with body mass index, and positively correlated with blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and UAE. Serum PTX3 concentrations are correlated with DN.