Table 1.

Biomarkers and Kidney Morphometric Studies in Diabetes

Biomarker	Sample type	Study design	Diabetes type	Population	Morphometric associations	Reference
Advanced Glycation End Products	Plasma/Urine	Prospective	Type 1	NHDNS	ΔGBM width↓/↑	Beisswenger et al,200546
						Beisswenger et al,201348
						Beisswenger et al,201449
	Serum	Cross-sectional	Type 2	American Indians	%GS ↑ Vv(Mes/glom)↑ Vv(Int/cortex)↑ %ECF↓ TFS/glom↓ FPW↑	Beisswenger et al,200546
						Saulnier et al, 201647
Beta-2 Microglobulin	Urine	Cross-sectional	Type 2	Japanese	GBM width↑ Mesangial expansion↑ IFTA score↑ interstitial inflammation↑ arteriolar hyalinosis↑	Mise et al, 201674
Bradykinin	Plasma	Cross-sectional	Type 1	RASS	Vv(Int/cortex)↓ VG↓/↑ TFS/glom↑	Wheelock et al, 201762
	Plasma	Prospective	Type 1	RASS	ΔSv(PGBM/glom)↑	Wheelock et al 201762
Monocyte Chemo-attractant Protein 1	Urine	Cross-sectional	Type 1	RASS	Vv(Int/cortex)↑	Fufaa et al, 201643
	Urine	Prospective	Type 1	RASS	ΔVv(Int/cortex)↑*	Fufaa et al, 201643
N-Acetyl-β-d-Glucosaminidase	Urine	Cross-sectional	Type 2	Japanese	GBM width↑ Mesangial expansion↑ IFTA score↑ Interstitial inflammation↑ Arteriolar hyalinosis↑ arteriosclerosis↑	Mise et al, 201674
Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 1	Serum	Cross-sectional	Type 2	American Indians	Vv(Mes/glom)↑ ECF↓	Pavkov et al, 201642
Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 2	Serum	Cross-sectional	Type 2	American Indians	Vv(Mes/glom)↑ ECF↓	Pavkov et al, 201642
White blood cell fractions	Blood	Cross-sectional	Type 2	American Indians	GBM width↓/↑ Sv(PGBM/glom)↑ ECF↓/↑	Wheelock et al 201766

Morphometric measures are shown in bold where there is a statistically significant association with the biomarker. Positive associations are indicated by an up arrow and negative associations by a down arrow – both arrows are shown when variation in findings is observed for different sub-types of biomarker.

^*Association seen only in women.

Abbreviations used: NHDNS – natural history diabetic nephropathy study; RASS – renin angiotensin system study; %GS – percentage of global glomerular sclerosis; V_G – mean glomerular volume; Vv(Int/cortex) – cortical interstitial fractional volume; Vv(Mes/glom) – mesangial fractional volume per glomerulus; (Sv(PGBM/glom) – surface density of the peripheral glomerular basement membrane per glomerulus; TFS/glom – total filtration surface per glomerulus; GBM width – glomerular basement membrane width; FPW – foot process width; % ECF – percentage of endothelial cell fenestrations; IFTA – interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy.