en Imonology Imonology Original Article Original Article <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:13.5pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Background</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most prevalent reason for chronic kidney diseases that end up with renal failure if it is not diagnosed and treated at early stages. Therefore, low-cost, non-invasive, and easy-to-use tests are necessary for efficient follow-up and early diagnosis of DN in diabetic patients. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) as the main recruiter of neutrophils may play a role in inflammatory responses that end up with renal damage and dysfunction in DN.</span><br> <span style="line-height:13.5pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Methods:</span></i></b> In a case-control study, serum levels of IL-8 and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios (NLR) were evaluated in correlation with clinical findings in 60 patients with DN, 60 type 2 diabetic patients without renal involvement, and 60 age and sex-matched healthy subjects.</span><br> <span style="line-height:13.5pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Results:</span></i></b> IL-8 levels were significantly higher in diabetic nephropathy patients than in diabetic patients without nephropathy and healthy controls (both p-value<0.0001). However, the frequency of neutrophils in both groups of patients was higher than that of healthy individuals. Despite increased NLRs in diabetic patients, the difference was only significant between DN and healthy groups (P-value: 0.03). A direct correlation was observed between IL-8 levels and NLR (P-value: 0.02), and a negative correlation between IL-8 and eGFR (P-value: 0.01). In addition, UACR was associated with IL-8 concentrations (P-value: 0.04) in DN patients. IL-8 level showed a higher diagnostic value for diabetic nephropathy [AUC: 0.87 (p<0.0001)] than NLR and neutrophil count.</span><br> <span style="line-height:13.5pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Conclusion</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> <span lang="EN">Increased </span>level of IL-8 in DN is associated with elevated NLR and UACR, and reduced eGFR. Therefore, IL-8 levels might be considered a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker for DN.<span lang="FA" dir="RTL" style="font-size:10.0pt"></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, interleukin-8, neutrophil, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio 191 199 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-3627-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mahboobeh Freidoon mah.fereidoon@gmail.com 100319475328460055852 100319475328460055852 No Department of Nephrology, Shohada-ye-Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Hadi Kazemzadehghadim azemghadim135@gmail.com 100319475328460055853 100319475328460055853 No Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Sara Assadiasl saraasadiasl@gmail.com 100319475328460055854 100319475328460055854 Yes Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Naghmeh Sayadi naghmeh.sayadi@gmail.com 100319475328460055855 100319475328460055855 No Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Narjes Soleimanifar n.soleimanifar20@gmail.com 100319475328460055856 100319475328460055856 No Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Maryam Sadr m.sadr62@gmail.com 100319475328460055857 100319475328460055857 No Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Hanieh Mojtahedi hanieh.mojtahedi93@gmail.com 100319475328460055858 100319475328460055858 No Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Hossein Nicknam mhnicknam@sina.tums.ac.ir 100319475328460055859 100319475328460055859 No Molecular Immunology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran