Inflammatory biomarkers in staging of chronic kidney disease: elevated TNFR2 levels accompanies renal function decline

Background Inflammation is a common feature in the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease (CKD), regardless of the disease cause. Our aim was to evaluate the potential of several inflammatory biomarkers in CKD diagnosis and staging. Methods A total of 24 healthy controls and 92 pre-dialysis CKD patients with diverse etiologies, were enrolled in this study and grouped according to their CKD stage. We analysed the circulating levels of inflammatory molecules, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2), pentraxin 3 (PTX3) and leptin, as well as the hemogram. We studied their association with parameters of kidney function and kidney injury, to evaluate their potential as early markers of the disease and/or of its worsening, as well as their interplay. Results Compared to controls, patients in CKD stages 1–2 presented significantly higher IL-6 and TNFR2 levels, and higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. All inflammatory cytokines and acute-phase proteins showed a trend to increase up to stage 3, stabilizing or declining thereafter, save for TNFR2, which steadily increased from stage to stage. All inflammatory molecules, apart from PTX3, were negatively and significantly correlated with eGFR, with a remarkable value for TNFR2 ( r = − 0.732, p < 0.001). Conclusion TNFR2 might be useful for an early detection of CKD, as well as for disease staging/worsening. Still, the potential value of this biomarker in disease progression warrants further investigation.