AUTHOR=Zhang Li , Xue Shuai , Wu Meiyan , Dong Dan 

TITLE=Performance of urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein in diabetic nephropathy: A meta-analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.914587

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2022.914587

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Aims</title><p>Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the main causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD), which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and progresses to end-stage renal failure. Thus, early diagnostic markers for diabetic patients are urgently needed to improve the prognosis of DN and predict DN progression.</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus were searched for publications until February 24, 2021. Review Manager 5.4 software was used for meta-analysis. We performed the heterogeneity test using the I<sup>2</sup> statistic: <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.1 and I<sup>2</sup>&gt; 50% meant statistical significance.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We included 13 studies. The urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (uL-FABP) concentrations in the normal albuminuria group were significantly higher than those in the normal control group without diabetes mellitus (DM) [<italic>P</italic> = 0.009, SMD 1.72, 95% CI (0.44, 2.99)]. Urinary F-LABP levels were elevated in the macroalbuminuria group compared with those in the microalbuminuria group with DM [<italic>P</italic> = 0.002, SMD 2.82, 95% CI (1.03, 4.61)]. Urinary L-FABP levels were also significantly increased in the progression and CKD groups compared with non-progression and CKD subjects with DM [<italic>P</italic> = 0.02, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.00001, respectively]. Furthermore, uL-FABP concentrations were positively correlated with the albumin-to-creatinine ratio and systolic blood pressure in patients with DM [Summary Fisher’s <italic>Z</italic> = 0.58 <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.00001; Summary Fisher’s <italic>Z</italic> = 0.24 <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.0001, respectively] and negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate in patients with DM [Summary Fisher’s <italic>Z</italic> = −0.36, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.0001].</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Urinary L-FABP may be a potential marker for the detection of all stages of DN and for the prediction of the progression and severity of DN in patients with type 1 and 2 DM.</p></sec>