Urinary monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and hepcidin and early diabetic nephropathy lesions in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Urinary monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and hepcidin are potential biomarkers of renal inflammation. We examined their association with development of diabetic nephropathy (DN) lesions in normotensive normoalbuminuric subjects with type 1 diabetes (T1D) from the Renin-Angiotensin System Study.

Methods: Biomarker concentrations were measured in baseline urine samples from 224 subjects who underwent kidney biopsies at baseline and after 5 years.