Plasma long pentraxin 3 as a marker of endothelial dysfunction in early diabetic nephropathy

Abstract

Abstract Objective This study investigated the utility of measuring plasma long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels in the early detection of endothelial dysfunction compared with Von Willebrand factor (vWF) activity and flow-dependent arterial dilatation (well-known markers of endothelial dysfunction) in early diabetic nephropathy. Materials and methods A total of 50 Egyptian patients with type 2 diabetes and 20 healthy controls were recruited from the Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism center, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. The diabetic patients were divided into two equal groups of comparable age and sex: group I consisted of patients with normal urinary albumin excretion and group II consisted of patients with microalbuminuria. Results In group II, the plasma PTX3 level was significantly higher (median value 2.3 ng/ml) and the mean flow-mediated dilatation (FMD; 0.433 ±0.059) was significantly lower when compared with the control group (PTX3 1.15 ng/ml, FMD 0.901 ± 0.04; P<00001) and with group I (PTX3 1.2 ng/ml, FMD 0.627± 0.05; P<0.0001). The vWF activity (median value) was significantly higher in the two diabetic groups compared with controls (20.2, 16.3 and 4% in group I, group II, and controls, respectively; P<0.0001), with no significant difference between the two diabetic groups. There was a significant positive correlation between PTX3 levels and vWF activity (P<0.001), diabetes duration, and concentration of fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, cholesterol, and triglyceride and a significant negative correlation between PTX3 levels and FMD (P<0.001) in all diabetic patients. In group II, there was a significant positive correlation between PTX3 levels and vWF activity (r= 0.603, P= 0.001). Conclusion PTX3 may represent a useful endothelial dysfunction marker in early diabetes nephropathy.