Urine Aquaporin-5 a biomarker in diabetic nephropathy

Aims: The aim of this work was to investigate the value of urine aquaporin-5 (AQP-5) as a biomarker for diabetic nephropathy. Methods: an AQP5-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure urine AQP-5 in normal controls (n = 20), diabetic patients without nephropathy (n = 30) and diabetic nephropathy patients (n = 30). The data were analyzed by using SPSS 19 Results: urine AQP5/creatinine ratio was significantly higher in diabetic nephropathy patients than in other two groups. Urine AQP5/creatinine ratio in stage III& in stage V was significantly higher than that in stage II. Urine AQP5/creatinine ratio was significantly correlated with diabetes duration, HbA1C%, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), urine AQP5, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) Conclusion: This study suggests that urine AQP5/creatinine ratio may have diagnostic and prognostic values as a novel noninvasive biomarker of diabetic nephropathy.