Serum interleukin-18 and its gene haplotypes profile as predictors in patients with diabetic nephropathy

BACKGROUND: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is known as an acute microvascular complexity as a subsequence progression in diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2. Many evidence pointed that the proinflammatory cytokine Interleukin (IL)-18 might be involved in the pathogenesis of DN. AIM: The current study aimed to evaluate the association of serum IL-18 and its promoter gene polymorphisms with diabetic nephropathy. METHODS: This study included 62 diabetic nephropathy patients (DN group) compared to 52 diabetes mellitus patients (DM group). The two groups were subjected to anthropometry assessment, molecular studies including SNP genotyping by RFLP and finally statistical analysis. RESULTS: The assessment of the serum IL-18 level and the frequencies of its allele and haplotype: -137G/C, -607C/A and -656G/T among the DN and DM subjects revealed that -137G allele has significant variation between DN and DM subjects (about 80.8%, P = 0.05) but, no significant variation in -607 or -656 alleles IL-18 gene promoter. CONCLUSION: These data confirm the impact of high serum IL-18 and the haplotype of the polymorphism located in the promoter region of the IL-18 gene with the DN.