Objective To examine the correlation of imbalance of urinary exosome Th1/Th2 with diabetic nephropathy (DN).Methods A total of 120 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 30 healthy volunteers as control were enrolled in the study.According to urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR),type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were divided into 3 groups:diabetes mellitus without nepbropathy group (DM,n=40,UACR＜30 mg/gCr),microalbuminuria group (DN 1,n=50,UACR-30～300 mg/gCr) and clinicoalbuminuria group (DN 2,n=30,UACR＞300 mg/gCr).Urine exosome-interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and exosome-interleukin 4 (IL-4) levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Multiple stepwise linear regression was used to analyze the correlation of exosome-IFN-γ/IL-4 with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c),cholesterol (CH),UACR,Scr and BUN.Results Th1/Th2 ratio in DM,DN1,DN2 groups was significantly higher than that in healthy group (0.8089±0.2458,0.8993 ±0.3515,0.8571±0.2470 vs 0.6198±0.1769,all P＜0.01).Correlation analysis showed that urinary exosomeIFN-γ/IL-4 ratio was positively correlated with UACR (r=0.213,P=0.015) and BUN (r=0.292,P=0.001).Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis showed that BUN was independent determinants for exosome-IFN-γ/IL-4 (β=0.246,P=0.006).Conclusion The imbalance of urinary exosomeTh1/Th2 is correlated with DN,which may play an important role in the pathogenesis of DN.