Lovastatin for Reduction of Leptin in Nondialysis Patients With Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy

Introduction. Diabetic Nephropathy (DN) is one of the main complications of diabetes mellitus, mostly ending to end-stage renal disease. Leptin and C-reactive protein (CRP), as inflammatory markers implicated in the progression of DN, increase in diabetes mellitus, while transferrin and albumin, as members of anti-oxidant defense mechanism, are found to decline. Materials and Methods. In a controlled clinical trial, 65 patients with type 2 DN were assigned to receive lovastatin or placebo, for 3 months, to assess statins’ impact on serum levels of leptin, CRP, transferrin, albumin, and lipid profile. Results. Serum levels of CRP (3.52 ± 4.16 mg/dL to 2.84 ± 3.06 mg/dL, P = .02), leptin (10.78 ± 8.30 mg/dL to 7.80 ± 5.41 mg/ dL, P = .006), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (116.16 ± 46.54 mg/dL to 85.46 ± 29.22 mg/dL, P .001), and total cholesterol (199.00 ± 43.33 mg/dL to 164.67 ± 35.19 mg/dL, P .001) were lowered after lovastatin therapy. Mean serum level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased (40.00 mg/dL to 42.80 mg/dL, P = .005) after the treatment. Lovastatin had no significant effect on albumin and transferrin. Placebo did not change any of the parameters after 3 months. Conclusions. The effect of statins on the inflammatory markers involved in the development of DN is a new approach to evidence supporting the pleiotropic effect of this drug group.