Looking for the early marker of renal injury

Acute Kidney Injury is a complex and increasingly common syndrome. Practically all available markers reflect functional impairment rather than a true direct mark of cellular injury. An ideal AKI biomarker should be accurate, reliable, easy to measure with a standard assay, noninvasive, reproducible, and sensitive and specific with defined cutoff values. Studies have identified a relatively small number of genes that are specifically altered in acute renal tubular injury. Kim-1 is one of the best-characterized urinary biomarkers to date in both experimental animals and humans with renal disease. Also NGAL is at the top of many researchers′ lists. Other biomarkers include IL-18, N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase, and urinary liver-type fatty acid binding protein