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.