Objective To investigate the value of detecting serum soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) and soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) in diagnosis of type 2 diabetic nephropathy (DN). Methods Eighty patients with DN (observation group) and 80 patients with simple type 2 diabetes mellitus (control group) were selected. Fasting blood glucose, 2 h postprandial blood glucose, serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), sCD40L, sICAM-1, urinary microalhumin excretion rate (UACR), and glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of DN. The diagnostic value of serum sCD40L and sICAM-1 levels for DN was analyzed by ROC. Results The levels of TC, TG, LDL-C, sCD40L, sICAM-1, and UACR in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, and eGFR was lower than that in the control group (all P <0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the duration of diabetes, TC, sCD40L, sICAM-1 and UACR were independent risk factors for DN (all P < 0.05). ROC analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of serum sCD40L and sICAM-1 for the diagnosis of DN were above 0.75.The sensitivity and specificity of combined detection of sCD40L and sICAM-1 levels for the diagnosis of DN were 0.860 and 0.848, respectively, which were higher than those of the single detection (all P < 0.05). Conclusion Serum levels of sCD40L and sICAM-1 in DN patients increase significantly, and the combined detection of serum sCD40L and sl-CAM-1 levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus can prompdy detect and diagnose DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]