Tracking Acute Kidney Injury

They present their data in the April 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

Acute kidney injury may be reversible if treated promptly and appropriately. Novel biomarkers therefore need to be developed to identify injury at early time points as well as to estimate the severity of the damage.

Negishi et al examined whether levels of urinary L-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP), a protein found in the kidney that is secreted in the urine upon kidney injury, could be used to monitor acute kidney injury. Levels of L-FABP correlated with the level of acute kidney injury at significantly earlier time points than levels of conventional renal markers such as blood urea nitrogen (BUN) or urinary N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase (NAG). In addition, L-FABP showed better correlation than BUN or NAG with final histological injury scores, especially at early time points.

L-FABP thus represents a better choice than conventional renal markers for evaluating early acute kidney injury. Future studies will "evaluat[e] various human AKI populations … to confirm the significance of urinary L-FABP as a forecasting biomarker of pathological and functional damage."