Diabetic nephropathy is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among young patients with T1DM. It is typically associated with arterial hypertension and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This supports an enhanced focus on the detection, prevention and treatment of diabetic kidney disease.1., 2.

Fatty acid binding proteins (FABP) are a family of lipid chaperone proteins that transport fatty acids and other lipophilic substances. The 10 mammalian FABP isoforms are widely expressed in humans, each with distinct tissue expression patterns and ligand binding preferences.3 Fatty acid binding protein1 (FABP1) is a 14 KDa small molecule that is expressed in the proximal tubules of the human kidney and participates in fatty acid metabolism which explains the increase of its concentration in the urine when proximal tubule cell injury occurs.4 Fatty acid binding protein2 (FABP2 or intestinal FABP) is a low molecular weight (14–15) KDa cytosolic, water-soluble protein specifically expressed by enterocytes from the duodenum to the ilium, accordingly has been shown to be a useful biomarker for diagnosing acute intestinal ischemia, including necrotizing enterocolitis and non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia.5

There is increasing evidence that FABP1 and FABP2 play a role in the development and progression of chronic kidney disease.6., 7., 8., 9. FABP1 and FABP2 have been studied in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and suggested to be novel biomarkers of diabetic nephropathy.4 However, to our knowledge, these biomarkers have not been studied in patients with T1DM. Therefore, we assessed serum FABP1 and FABP2 levels in children and adolescents with T1DM as potential markers for diabetic nephropathy and their relation to urinary albumin excretion, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), glycemic control and carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) as a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis.