Abstract: ObjectiveTo search detecting urine transforming growth factor-β₁(TGF-β₁) of type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM) in diagnosing early diabetic nephropathy in old patients.MethodsTGF-β₁,microalbumin,microglobulin α1 and microglobulin β2 in urine from 53 cases of old type 2 diabetics and 27 cases of normal controls were detected.ResultsTGF-β₁ was(21.2±7.32) ng/mmolCr in diabetics whose urine albumin were normal and was(58.79±25.93) ng/mmolCr in diabetics whose urine microalbumin was abnormal(P<0.01).Both were significantly higher than that of the normal control which was(7.79±3.58) ng/mmolCr(P<0.01).TGF-β₁ was direct remarkably correlative with microablumin(r=0.5415),microglobulin α₁(r=0.6282) and microglobulin β₂(r=0.3248)(P<0.01 respectively),but was nothing with glycohemoglobin(r=0.2304,P>0.05).ConclusionTGF-β₁ detection may be used as a sensitive and reliable guideline to diagnose early diabetic nephropathy in old diabetics.

Key words: diabetes mellitus, complication, diabetic nephropathy, transforming growth factor-β1