NF-κB gene expression in peripheral blood and urine in early diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy – A liquid biopsy approach

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a pathological condition that affects diabetic patients around the world, and it is the main cause of chronic kidney diseases. It is known that the inflammatory pathway is activated in diabetic patients. Thus, the aims of this study were to evaluate the gene expression of Nuclear factor-κappa B (NF-κB) in liquid samples (urine and blood), then to evaluate the correlation between NF-κB gene expression with classical biochemical markers of kidney disease to investigate if the gene expression of this molecule can be used as a biomarker of loss of kidney function in diabetic patients. We recruited 35 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus for at least 5 years and 29 healthy donors and collected samples of urine and blood to quantify the NF-κB expression. It was found higher expression of NF-κB in both samples in diabetes patients. We verified elevated levels of microalbuminuria, serum creatinine, urea and BMI in diabetic patients, as well as a fall in GFR, without alteration in serum creatinine and proteinuria levels. Our data suggest that overexpression of NF-κB participates in the onset of diabetic nephropathy and that it is possible to quantify these changes in liquid biopsy (blood and urine) through gene expression of this molecule. The NF-κB expression is correlated with increased BMI data.