Background:  Several recent reports indicated presence of low levels of serum adropin among patients who had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) when compared with non-diabetic cases. However, more investigations are needed to determine the clinical importance of this adropin reduction as an early marker for diabetic nephropathy (DN). Objective: Evaluation of the performance of serum adropin levels as an early biomarker for DN in T2D patients. Patients and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, sixty cases with T2DM were enrolled in addition to 20 healthy nondiabetic subjects. The diabetic patients were further subdivided according to albuminuria level into, non albuminuric group (20 patients), microalbuminuric group (20 patients) and macroalbuminuric group (20 patients). We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of serum adropin levels among all participants. Results: Serum adropin levels were much lower among macroalbuminuric diabetic cases compared with non albuminuric, microalbuminuric cases as well as healthy controls (p < 0.001). Negative correlations were revealed between serum adropin levels and all of the following: age, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), random blood sugar (RBS), HbA1c, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), and urine albumin to creatinine (ACR), meanwhile there was a positive correlation with hemoglobin (HB)%, total protein, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and albumin. Conclusions:  DN is associated with reduced adropin levels, and serum adropin may be a useful diagnostic marker for early identification of DN among type 2 diabetic cases.