Clinical application of RUBCN/SESN2 mediated inhibition of autophagy as biomarkers of diabetic kidney disease

Table 2 Comparison between RUBCN, SESN2, mTOR serum levels, RUBCN and SESN2 expression among the studied groups

	Group 1 Diabetes without nephropathy (N. = 30)	Group 2 Diabetes with microalbuminuria (N. = 30)	Group 3 Diabetes with macroalbuminuria (N. = 30)	Group 4 Healthy controls (N. = 30)	F	Sig
(A) Serum levels of RUBCN, SESN2and mTOR and relative RUBCN and SESN2 mRNA expression
RUBCN serum level (ng/mL)	1.54 ± 0.18 ^c,d	4.05 ± 0.88 ^a,b,d	6.75 ± 1.12 ^a,b,c	1.48 ± 0.17	359.523	< 0.001*
SESN2 serum level (ng/mL)	6.47 ± 0.86 ^a,c,d	5.27 ± 0.61 ^a,b,d	4.02 ± 0.47 ^a,b,c	8.04 ± 0.76	221.661	< 0.001*
mTOR serum level (ng/mL)	2.5 ± 0.5 ^a,c,d	4.05 ± 0.88 ^a,b,d	6.11 ± 0.6 ^a,b,c	0.65 ± 0.17	441.866	< 0.001*
RUBCN expression	1.94 ± 0.41 ^a,c,d	5.18 ± 0.73 ^a,b,d	9.04 ± 0.64 ^a,b,c	Ref	330.755	< 0.001*
SESN2 expression	0.78 ± 0.13 ^a,c,d	0.48 ± 0.11 ^a,b,d	0.1 ± 0.06 ^a,b,c	Ref	563.214	< 0.001*
(B) Normalized serum levels of RUBCN, SESN2 and mTOR to total serum proteins
RUBCN (ng/gm protein)	22.81 ± 2.91 ^c,d	63.18 ± 15.68 ^a,b,d	122 ± 26.58 ^a,b,c	21.82 ± 2.3	277.7	< 0.001*
SESN2 (ng/gm protein)	110.62 ± 13.54 ^a,c,d	81.73 ± 10.53 ^a,b,d	37.99 ± 10.8 ^a,b,c	118.8 ± 12.42	101.8	< 0.001*
mTOR (ng/gm protein)	36.98 ± 7.67 ^a,c,d	62.78 ± 13.69 ^a,b,d	112.5 ± 13 ^a,b,c	9.66 ± 4.04	532.8	< 0.001*

ANOVA analysis with post hoc Tukey’s test; (*) indicates statistical significance), data is presented as mean ± Standard deviation
^aSignificant p value (< 0.05) compared to controls (group 4)
^bSignificant p value (< 0.05) compared to group 1
^cSignificant p value (< 0.05) compared to group 2
^dSignificant p value (< 0.05) compared to group 3
RUBCN: Rubicon; SESN2: Sestrin-2; mTOR: mammalian target of Rapamycin

ISSN: 1528-3658