Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic value of urinary Wilms' tumour-1 (WT-1) and mu-glutathione S-transferase (Mu-GST) gene expression for detecting kidney injury in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: Patients treated between October 2022 and June 2023 were divided into two groups: a diabetic nephropathy (DN) group (105 patients) and a diabetes mellitus (DM) group (100 patients). Additionally, 100 healthy individuals undergoing routine medical check-ups were selected as the control group. The urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), as well as urinary WT-1 and Mu-GST expression levels, were measured. The sensitivity and specificity of these markers for predicting renal injury were evaluated. RESULTS: The levels of ACR, WT-1 and Mu-GST in the DN group were significantly higher than those in the DM and control groups. The ACR in the DM group was also significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05), and WT-1 and Mu-GST gene expression levels demonstrated a positive correlation with ACR (r = 0.391 and 0.342, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of WT-1 were 74% and 95%, respectively, whereas those of Mu-GST were 70% and 96%, respectively. The combined detection of WT-1 and Mu-GST yielded a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 97%. CONCLUSION: The levels of WT-1 and Mu-GST gene expression are closely related to T2DM kidney injury, helping to identify the location of kidney injury to some extent, which provides valuable information for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of kidney injury.