Application of urinary tubular epithelial cells in the renal tubular injury in diabetes mellitus

Objective To evaluate the ability of Sysmex urine automatic analyzer UF-5000 to detect renal tubular epithelial cells, and to explore the value of detection of renal tubular epithelial cells in renal tubular injury of diabetes mellitus. Methods Case control study. 452 urine samples were collected from the third Xiangya Third Hospital of Central South University from October 2018 to April 2019 (252 in the control group, 113 in diabetes without renal injury group and 87 in diabetes with renal injury group). All samples were detected by both UF-5000 and microscopic examination, established reference range for normal population, then contrasted the coincidence rate and uniformity of the two methods, to evaluate the ability of urine automatic analyzer UF-5000 to detect renal tubular epithelial cells, and the diagnostic value of tubular epithelial cells for renal tubular injury in diabetic patients. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS17.0, Kappa consistency analysis, ROC curve analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test and Chi-square test were used. Results The reference range of renal tubular epithelial cells by Sysmex urine automatic analyzer UF-5000 is 0-1.7/μl. The results of the two methods were analyzed by Kappa consistency analysis. The Kappa value was 0.699, P>0.05, which meant highly consistent. ROC curve analysis showed when cut-off value was 1.7/μl. The sensitivity, specificity and area under ROC curve were 0.791, 0.817 and 0.861 respectively. The median of renal tubular epithelial cells was 0.4/μl, 2.0/μl and 2.3/μl in the healthy control group, the diabetes without renal injury group and the diabetes with renal injury group, respectively; the positive rate of renal tubular epithelial cells in the three groups were 2.78%, 56.64% and 75.86% respectively. Compared with the control group, the median and positive rate of renal tubular epithelial cells in the diabetes without renal injury group and the diabetes with renal injury group were significant different; there was also significant difference in the positive rate of renal tubular epithelial cells between the two groups. Conclusion Compared with the control group, the positive rate of urine renal tubular epithelial cells indiabetes without renal injury group is significantly higher, which is helpful to detect renal tubular injury, to carry out early intervention and to prolong the time of progression to chronic kidney disease. Key words: Renal tubular epithelial cells; Diabetes; Renal tubular injury