Novel biomarkers of kidney injury: possibility toward preventive strategies

Abstract

Acute kidney injury is a common comorbidity especially observed in hospitalized patients with high morbidity and mortality. However, biomarkers assessing the degree or etiology of acute kidney injury and predictive markers to detect the risk of acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease progression are lacking. Serum or urinary creatinine, cystatin C, urine albumin-to-creatinine or urine protein-to-creatinine ratio, kidney injury molecule-1, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, and chitinase 3-like 1 have commonly been utilized as potential markers while all have significant limitations restricting their clinical use. In this review, we aim to evaluate the possible role of selected novel biomarkers including myo-inositol oxygenase, microRNA, cell cycle arrest molecules, Dickkopf-related protein 3, and a few pro-inflammatory cytokines that may have clinical significance by providing a tool for early detection of acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease progression risk and identify high-risk patients for such medical comorbidity.