Roles of CCL2 Gene Expression in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Kidney Disease
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59796/jcst.V16N3.2026.192Keywords:
kidney disease, CKD, AKI, IgAN, CCL2 geneAbstract
Chronic kidney disease (CKD), acute kidney injury (AKI), and IgA nephropathy (IgAN) are kidney disorders that lead to progressive impairment of filtration. Standard diagnostic markers (creatinine, urea, and eGFR) remain the cornerstone of clinical detection, but they are still insufficient for early diagnosis. Recent studies highlight the potential role of genetic indicators such as CCL2, which are involved in inflammatory signaling and renal tissue injury by attracting monocytes and macrophages into the damaged kidney. This study was designed as a cross-sectional case-control investigation aimed at assessing fold-change expression of CCL2 in the peripheral blood of patients with CKD (n = 30), AKI (n = 10) and IgAN (n = 14), compared with healthy controls (n = 30) after clinical diagnosis of patients with physiological markers. Creatinine, urea and eGFR exhibited highly significant differences between patients and controls, demonstrating strong diagnostic ability (AUC > 0.90 for all markers). Conversely, CCL2 expression showed no significant difference between patient groups and controls, and no significant correlation with physiological markers. Mean CCL2 fold-change were 1.707 in AKI, 1.795 in CKD, and 1.378 in IgAN, indicating only mild elevation without statistical significance. These findings contribute to the evaluation of inflammatory molecular biomarkers in renal diseases by indicating that circulating CCL2 mRNA expression in peripheral blood does not offer additional diagnostic value beyond established physiological markers within this cohort. The results indicate that physiological markers such as creatinine, urea, and eGFR are still good indicators and highlight the limitations of blood-based transcriptional assessment of CCL2 for reflecting renal inflammatory activity, suggesting that tissue-specific or urinary biomarkers may better represent the underlying renal pathological processes. Therefore, blood-based CCL2 in this cohort lacks diagnostic utility, whereas tissue-based or urinary biomarkers could provide enhanced distinction.
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