Gunes G, et al. - Patients with stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD) were investigated for levels of serum sRANKL and intracellular NF-κB levels in their peripheral blood osteoclast precursor cells. In the assessment of early stages of renal osteodystrophy (ROD), vitamin D3 and iPTH levels seemed to be important parameters. However, the non-sufficiency of these parameters in the assessment of bone metabolism in the early stages of renal failure was indicated by the lack of statistically significant differences in the levels of sRANKL and NF-κB.

• Study included 41 male patients aged 35–60 with CKD identified as stage 3 according to GFR calculated on the basis of creatinine values.
• Control group included 27 healthy male subjects with age ranging from 40 to 60.
• Using photometric, electrochemiluminescence, HPLC, ELISA and flow cytometric methods in control and patient groups, respectively, researchers determined levels of biochemical parameters, vitamin D3, parathyroid hormone, bone mineral density, sRANKL and NF-κB.

• Relative to controls, statistically significantly higher iPTH levels, but statistically significantly lower vitamin D3 levels were observed among patients with stage 3 CKD.
• However, no significance was shown by the other biochemical parameters, bone mineral density, sRANKL and NF-κB levels.