Using proteomics to identify preprocedural risk factors for contrast induced nephropathy

Contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) is the third leading cause of hospital acquired acute kidney injury (AKI). We conducted a cross-sectional study in children undergoing elective cardiac catheterization to determine if there is a distinct preprocedural urinary proteomic profile in subjects who subsequently develop CIN. Of 90 patients enrolled, AKI due to CIN (defined as a 50% or greater increase in serum creatinine) occurred in 10 participants by the 24 h postcontrast time point. Seven patients who did not develop AKI served as age and gender matched controls. SELDI-TOF-MS was performed using Protein Chips with different chromatographic surfaces. A 4480 Da biomarker displayed significantly greater peat intensities on three chromatographic surfaces (p = 0.02-0.001) in control patients at time = 0 with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.89-0.99. This biomarker was identified as the 41 amino acid (a.a.) variant of human beta-defensin-1. Another biomarker of 4631 Da was found to have a significantly greater peak intensity (p = 0.03) in AKI patients at time = 0, with an AUC of 0.84. Thus, the presence of a 4631 Da peptide, as well as the absence of the 41 a.a. variant of human beta-defensin-1 in the pre-procedural urine, may prove to be useful biomarkers for the early prediction of CIN.