A new study has discovered that patients with diabetes, the plasma heparin cofactor II or HCII activity is inversely correlated with glomerular injury and may serve as a biomarker for early-stage diabetic kidney disease or DKD.
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Experts enrolled 310 Japanese diabetes mellitus
patients, from whom plasma HCII activity was assessed using the appropriate
assays. The other biochemical markers evaluated included albumin and liver-type
fatty acid-binding protein or L-FABP, which were then used to obtain the urine
albumin-to-creatinine (uACR) and L-FABP-to-creatinine (uL-FABPCR) ratios.
Mean plasma HCII activity in the overall sample was
93.8% and showed significant associations with serum and plasma markers such as
fibrinogen, uACR, and log-transformed.
Using multivariate regression analysis revealed that
plasma HCII activity was a significant and independent protective factor
against increasing uACR and log-transformed uACR. There was no such effect
reported for uL-FABPCR. Being male was similarly significantly inversely
associate with uACR and log-transformed uACR, but also with uL-FABPCR.
On the other hand, systolic blood pressure, glycated
hemoglobin, and creatinine were positively and significantly correlated with
all three urinary biomarkers.
Researchers said that the data generated in this study
demonstrated that the plasma HCII activity served as a negative clinical factor
for albuminuria development in patient with diabetes. Measuring the plasma HCII
activity might enable the prediction and/or development of glomerular disease
in patients with DKD at an early stage.
Source: J Diabetes Investig 2021;doi:10.1111/jdi.13602