Objective To investigate the levels of serum acute phase protein in different stages of diabetic nephropathy and their implication. Methods This study included 30 healthy subjects and 100 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, diabetic patients were further divided into three subgroups according to their urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER): 39 patients with normal UAER, 30 patients with microalbuminuria and 31 patients with clinical proteinuria. C-reactive protein, ? 1-acid glycoprotein (? 1-AAG), ceruloplasmin (CER) were measured with rate nephelometry method, sialic acid was measured with MTT method. Results (1) Acute phase protein concentrations were significantly higher in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus than those in normal controls. (2) Acute phase protein concentrations were increased with increment of UAER. (3) Some acute phase proteins (? 1-AAG, CER and SA) were correlated with serum cholesterol and triglyceride independently. Conclusion There is acute phase reaction in type 2 diabetes mellitus and the degree of acute phase reaction is correlated with the degree of diabetic nephropathy.

ObjectivesTo study the relationship between the allele frequencies and genotype distribution of transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF-β1) gene promoter polymorphisms in Chinese patients with heptocellular carcinoma(HCC),and to analyze the association of the serum levels and genotype of TGF-β1 with HCC.MethodsThe polymorphisms of TGF-β gene,including polymorphisms of TGF-[β1 gene -800G/A、-509C/T,were analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)methods in 102 patients with HCC and 110 healthy controls,and the serum level of TGF-β1 was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ResultsThe HCC group showed significantly higher serum levels of TGF-β1 than control group [(51.06 ± 9.74)μg/L,(22.12 ± 8.67 )μg/L,t=22.884, P＜0.01], The distributions of TGF-β gene -800G/A polymorphisms were not different significantly between HCC group and control group, but TGF-β1 -509C/T gene polymorphism was significantly different. The relative risk suffered from HCC of C allele was 1.822 times of the T allele (OR=1.822,95 ％CI:1.238-2.682,t=22.884,P＜0.01), the serum level of TGF-β1 T allele carriers was significantly higher than that of no carriers [(53.52:±:10.07)μg/L,(43.57±9.89)μ.g/L,t=3.898, P＜0.01]. ConclusionTGF-β1 gene -509C/T polymorphism is associated with HCC, and T allele may be a risk factor for HCC, in which the TGF-β1 T allele carriers may have increased risk by enhancing the TGF-β1 expression in the pathogenesis of HCC.