Diagnostic performance of kidney injury molecule-1 for detection of abnormal urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

In this study, we aimed to investigate whether serum and urinary levels of kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) are increased in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients with albuminuria. While the correlation of urinary KIM-1 with renal impairment has been well established, the association with serum KIM-1 has not yet been so well documented. The present pilot study included Egyptian patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D): A total of 84 patients with T2D (age 49-64 years; 20 men) were included in the analysis of the present study. They were divided into two groups according to Alb/Cr ratio: the first group included 32 patients (38.1%) with abnormal Alb/Cr ratio (38.6 mg/g·Cr), and the second group included 52 patients with normal Alb/Cr ratio (17.9 mg/g·Cr). Serum and urinary KIM-1 were measured using enzyme-linked immunoassays. There was a significant difference between both serum and urine KIM-1 and Alb/Cr ratio. Patients with abnormal Alb/Cr ratio had significantly higher serum and urinary KIM-1. These results yielded sensitivity (75.0%) and specificity (96.2%) regarding serum KIM-1 with a cut-off point of 37.5 pg/mL, and sensitivity (93.8%) and specificity (88.5%) regarding urinary KIM1 with a cut-off point of 32.00 ng/g.Cr. Serum KIM-1 and urinary KIM-1 were significantly correlated with eGFR and Alb/Cr ratio. In this pilot study, we found that urinary, serum, and urinary levels of KIM-1 are associated with significant impairments in renal function among diabetic patients. Our results also showed that serum and urine KIM-1 can be used as potential biomarkers for diabetic kidney disease.