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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1403717
This article is part of the Research Topic Early Diagnosis of Kidney Disease in Young Adulthood View all articles

Low brain-derived neurotrophic factor and high vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 levels are associated with chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Provisionally accepted
Yu-Hsin Chiang Yu-Hsin Chiang 1Yu-Hsuan Li Yu-Hsuan Li 1Yin-Ching Chan Yin-Ching Chan 2Yu-Cheng Cheng Yu-Cheng Cheng 1Junyi Wu Junyi Wu 1Jer-An Lin Jer-An Lin 3Wei-Chang Huang Wei-Chang Huang 1I-Te Lee I-Te Lee 1*
  • 1 Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
  • 2 Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan
  • 3 National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) have a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Energy imbalance and inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of CKD. We examined the effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) on CKD in patients with type 2 DM. Methods: Patients with type 2 DM were enrolled for this cross-sectional study. Fasting serum was prepared to measure the BDNF and VCAM-1 levels. An estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 was used as the criterion for identifying patients with CKD. Results: Of the 548 enrolled participants, 156 had CKD. Patients with CKD exhibited significantly lower BDNF (median of 21.4 ng/mL, interquartile range [IQR]: 17.0–27.0 ng/mL vs. median of 25.9 ng/mL, IQR: 21.0–30.4 ng/mL, P <0.001) and higher VCAM-1 (median of 917 ng/mL, IQR: 761–1172 ng/mL vs. median of 669 ng/mL, IQR: 552–857 ng/mL, P <0.001) levels than those without CKD. Serum BDNF levels were inversely correlated with VCAM-1 levels (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient = -0.210, P <0.001). The patients were divided into four subgroups based on median BDNF and VCAM-1 levels (24.88 ng/mL and 750 ng/mL, respectively). Notably, patients in the high VCAM-1 and low BDNF group had the highest prevalence (50%) of CKD. Multivariate logistic regression revealed a significantly higher odds ratio (OR) of CKD in the high VCAM-1 and low BDNF group (OR = 3.885, 95% CI: 1.766–8.547, P <0.001), followed by that in the high VCAM-1 and high BDNF group (OR = 3.099, 95% CI: 1.373–6.992, P =0.006) compared with that in the low VCAM-1 and high BDNF group. However, the risk of CKD in the low VCAM-1 and low BDNF group was not significantly different from that in the low VCAM-1 and high BDNF group (P =0.266). Conclusion: CKD in patients with type 2 DM is associated with low serum BDNF and high VCAM-1 levels. BDNF and VCAM-1 have a synergistic effect on CKD. Thus, BDNF and VCAM-1 can be potential biomarkers for CKD risk stratification in patients with type 2 DM.

    Keywords: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Chronic Kidney Disease, synergistic effect, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1

    Received: 19 Mar 2024; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chiang, Li, Chan, Cheng, Wu, Lin, Huang and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: I-Te Lee, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, 40705, Taiwan

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