Objective To investigate the change of urinary podocalyxin(PCX) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels and its association with the oxidative stress in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM ) complicating dif‐ferent degrees of diabetic nephropathy .Methods Totally 186 patients with T2DM were divided into the pure T2DM (SDM ,62 ca‐ses) ,trace amount group(NA group ,60 cases) and massive amount group(MA group ,64 cases) according to the 24 h urinary albu‐min excretion rate(UAER) .60 cases of normal 24 h UAER were taken as the control group(NC group) .The levels of PCX ,VEGF , superoxide dismutase (SOD) ,malondialdehyde(MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐px)were determined .Results Compared with other three groups ,the level of VEGF ,PCX and MDA in the MA group were highest(P<0 .01) ,while the levels of SOD and GSH‐px were lowest(P<0 .01 ,P<0 .05) .VEGF ,UAER ,HbA1c were the independent risk factors for urinary PCX .Conclusion In patients with diabetic nephropathy ,urinary PCX and VEGF are correlated with the oxidative stress ,while the oxidative stress is closely correlated with glomerular podocyte injury .