Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Autophagy is a major clearance mechanism that destroys organelles and damaged proteins to keep cellular survival and homeostasis. Previous experimental studies have showed that autophagy has crucial role in the progression of diabetes and kidney diseases.

Aim: This pilot cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association between serum concentrations of beclin-1, a key regulator of autophagy, and diabetic nephropathy.

Methods: The study included 70 patients with type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy (group 1; 35 patients with eGFR >30 ml/min/1.73 m² and group 2; 35 patients with with eGFR <30 ml/min/1.73 m²) and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects as controls. Laboratory work up included; glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) formula, urine albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR), and serum beclin-1 measurement using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: Patients with DN had significantly lower beclin-1 levels (2.38±1.46 ng/mL) compared with control group (6.03±1.94 ng/mL; P<0.001). Moreover, patients in group 1 had significantly higher beclin-1 level (3.36±1.30 ng/mL) than group 2 (1.43±.83 ng/mL; P<0.001). In univariate analysis, the concentration of beclin-1 correlated well with eGFR (r=.64, P < 0.001), ACR (r=−.63, P<0.001),and duration of diabetes (r=−0.43, P < 0.001) but didn’t correlate HbA1c (r=−.17, P=.15).

Conclusion: This data suggest that low levels of serum beclin-1 could be a biomarker of DN in type 2 diabetic patients. Furthermore, it correlates well with the indicators of kidney function and renal damage.