Abstract
BACKGROUND: Evidence suggested that IL-17A was associated with renal function in type 2 diabetes. We used ultra-sensitive measurement to detect the concentration of IL-17A in human peripheral blood and explored the association of IL-17A with diabetic kidney disease (DKD). METHODS: We recruited 138 participants from the Shanghai Diabetes Institute Inpatient Database of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital. Eighty-four individuals diagnosed as DKD were cases, and 54 type 2 diabetes individuals without DKD or diabetic retinopathy (DR) were controls. The concentration of serum IL-17A was detected by the High Sensitivity Immunoassay Quantitative Kit. Data was analysed by SAS. RESULTS: The concentration of serum IL-17A in our population ranged from 0.07 pg/mL to 2.96 pg/mL with the median of 0.502 pg/mL. Our results suggested that the level of serum IL-17A in DKD case group was higher than in the control (P (unadjusted) = 0.0496, P (adjusted) = 0.0298). And serum creatinine, eGFR, ACR were used as indicators of renal function. Serum creatinine and ACR were positive correlated with the level of serum IL-17A (P (adjusted) = 0.0148; P (adjusted) = 0.0369), while eGFR showed a negative correlation (P (adjusted) = 0.0167). Additionally, the level of serum IL-17A was also significantly higher in DR case group compared with the control group (p = 0.0224). CONCLUSION: Serum IL-17A level is associated with renal function decline and diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes in a Chinese Han population. Our results suggested that IL-17A may be a potential biomarker of DKD and DR.