Alteration in serum osteocalcin levels in patients with diabetic nephropathy

The fact that bone mass density (BMD) is not useful for assessing fracture risk in diabetic patients (DM) seems problematic, because those populations are increasing in every country. Osteocalcin (OC) is synthesized by osteoblasts and is considered to be a marker of bone formation. The present study was carried out to evaluate the usefulness of OC as noninvasive biomarker of bone formation in diabetes mellitus type 2 (uncomplicated) and diabetic nephropathy. Immunoradiometric assay(IRMA) was used for the quantitative measurement of human intact OC both N-terminal and C-terminal fragments in the serum of the control and the studied groups. OC levels in the uncomplicated diabetic group were significantly lower while in the diabetic nephropathy group was significantly higher compared to control values. There was a weak negative correlation between OC and both fasting blood glucose and glycated Hb% in the diabetic group. In diabetic nephropathy patients, a weak positive correlation was observed between OC and protein creatinine ratio. The results concluded that changes in bone remodelling marker OC are present in both DM type2 and diabetic nephropathy explaining osteopenia and osteoporosis observed in both cases. Therefore, an effective glycaemic control should be the hallmark of prevention and treatment of diabetes mellitus induced osteoporosis.