Objective: To evaluate whether serum Gasdermin D (GSDMD) levels are associated with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and renal function impairment, and to assess its potential diagnostic value.
Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included 111 patients with DKD, 100 patients with non-diabetic kidney diseases, and 135 healthy controls. Serum GSDMD levels were measured using a chemiluminescence assay. Associations between GSDMD and clinical parameters were analyzed using Spearman correlation and binary logistic regression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate diagnostic performance.
Results: Serum GSDMD levels were significantly higher in patients with DKD than in healthy controls (P < 0.05). GSDMD levels were positively correlated with glucose (GLU), creatinine (CREA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR), and negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (all P < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression identified GSDMD as an independent factor associated with DKD. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for GSDMD in identifying DKD was 0.847 (95% CI: 0.808-0.886), which increased to 0.933 (95% CI: 0.904-0.962) when combined with conventional indicators.
Conclusion: Serum GSDMD levels are significantly associated with diabetic kidney disease and renal dysfunction. These findings suggest that GSDMD may serve as a complementary biomarker for DKD assessment; however, longitudinal and multicenter studies are required to confirm its prognostic value and clinical applicability.
Keywords: Gasdermin D; biomarker; diabetic kidney disease; inflammation; pyroptosis.
Copyright © 2026 Ding, Wei, Liu, Liu, Huo, Yu and Yang.