Could "calprotectin" and "endocan" serve as "Troponin of Nephrologists"?
1Faculty of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Insights
New biomarkers, urinary calprotectin and serum endocan, may aid in the early diagnosis and differentiation of acute kidney injury (AKI). These markers could offer a more precise assessment of kidney damage than traditional methods.
Area of Science:
- Nephrology
- Biomarker Discovery
- Renal Medicine
Background:
- Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common condition contributing to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
- Current AKI diagnosis relies on serum creatinine (Cr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), which are late and imprecise indicators of kidney injury.
- There is a need for earlier and more specific biomarkers for AKI diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential of urinary calprotectin and serum endocan as early diagnostic biomarkers for AKI.
- To evaluate if these biomarkers can differentiate between prerenal AKI and intrinsic AKI.
- To explore their utility in distinguishing tubular injury from glomerular/endothelial-vascular damage in AKI.
Main Methods:
- The study hypothesizes the use of urinary calprotectin to detect tubular degradation.
- Serum endocan levels are proposed to indicate endothelial damage.
- The research aims to assess if calprotectin and endocan can diagnose intrinsic AKI earlier than serum creatinine rise.
Main Results:
- Urinary calprotectin may help diagnose tubular degradation and differentiate prerenal from intrinsic AKI.
- Serum endocan levels could signify endothelial damage.
- Calprotectin and endocan are hypothesized to aid in earlier AKI diagnosis and prognosis assessment.
Conclusions:
- Calprotectin and endocan show potential as novel biomarkers for AKI diagnosis and management.
- These biomarkers may enable earlier detection, differentiation of AKI types, and assessment of renal damage extent.
- They could serve as nephrology's equivalent to Troponin in cardiac medicine for timely intervention.
Abstract:
AKI, a serious, common and occasionally under-recognized condition, which is a significant contributor to the growing incidence of CKD and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). To date, the diagnosis of AKI is made by serial measurement of Cr and BUN which are late and imprecise markers of kidney injury. "Calprotectin" and "endocan" are two biomarkers that could reflect renal tubular injury and glomerular/endothelial-vascular damage, respectively. Measurement of urinary calprotectin could help the physicians to diagnose tubular degradation and differentiate prerenal AKI from intrinsic AKI. Serum level of endocan could signify endothelial damage. Herein it is hypothesized that calprotectin and endocan may help the clinicians to diagnose intrinsic AKI, earlier than rise of serum creatinine, differentiate AKI from acute presentation of CKD and also discriminate tubular injury from glomerular/vascular-endothelial injury, assess the prognosis and extent of renal damage and plan for appropriate therapy which may render these biomarkers as potentially applicable equivalents of Troponin in the field of nephrology.
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