Evaluation of the Serum Levels of IL-1 in Type 2 Diabetic Patients with and without Diabetic Nephropathy

Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has been regarded as an important cause of morbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Immune system components are modulated during T2D, with the most apparent modifications in adipose tissue, pancreatic islets, liver, and circulating leukocytes. The aim of this survey was to evaluate the role of IL-1 in the etiopathogenesis of nephropathic T2D. Methods: In this case-control investigation, the study population consisted of 58 T2D patients with proteinuria (nephropathy T2D cases) as the case group and 76 T2D cases without proteinuria (non-nephropathy T2D cases) as the control group. Blood samples were obtained from all individuals and ELISA approach was carried out to measure IL-1 levels in samples. Results: Our experiments demonstrated that T2D patients with nephropathy had significantly increased levels of IL-1 in their blood in comparison to T2D patients without nephropathy. Conclusions: It seems that IL-1 plays a role in the etiopathogenesis of nephropathy in T2D patients, requiring further implementation to vivid disclose of the inflammation in this context.