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Detection of renal biomarkers in chronic kidney disease using microfluidics: progress, challenges and opportunities
Kan-Zhi Liu1, Ganghong Tian2, Alex C-T Ko2
1Medical Devices Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 435 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B1Y6, Canada. Kan-Zhi.Liu@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.
Insights
Early detection of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is challenging. Microfluidic technology offers a promising solution for faster, more accessible CKD biomarker detection, improving patient outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Clinical Diagnostics
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- Chronic kidney disease (CKD) progresses silently, making early detection difficult.
- Current CKD diagnostic methods are slow and costly, limiting access in resource-poor settings.
- Microfluidic technology offers miniaturization for improved bioanalytical assays.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review advancements in microfluidic technology for CKD biomarker detection.
- To highlight the potential of microfluidics in overcoming limitations of current diagnostic methods.
- To discuss the search for novel biomarkers for early CKD diagnosis using microfluidics.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on microfluidic applications for CKD biomarker detection.
- Analysis of trends in developing sensitive biomarkers and microfluidic assay integration.
- Exploration of potential clinical and point-of-care applications.
Main Results:
- Microfluidics enables miniaturization of assays, potentially improving diagnostic performance.
- There is a growing trend in identifying novel, sensitive biomarkers for early CKD detection.
- Microfluidic approaches are expected to enhance CKD assessment and monitoring.
Conclusions:
- Microfluidic technology shows significant promise for early and efficient CKD detection.
- These advancements could lead to improved patient management and quality of life.
- Integration into clinical and point-of-care settings is anticipated.
Abstract:
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) typically evolves over many years in a latent period without clinical signs, posing key challenges to detection at relatively early stages of the disease. Accurate and timely diagnosis of CKD enable effective management of the disease and may prevent further progression. However, long turn-around times of current testing methods combined with their relatively high cost due to the need for established laboratory infrastructure, specialized instrumentation and trained personnel are drawbacks for efficient assessment and monitoring of CKD, especially in underserved and resource-poor locations. Among the emerging clinical laboratory approaches, microfluidic technology has gained increasing attention over the last two decades due to the possibility of miniaturizing bioanalytical assays and instrumentation, thus potentially improving diagnostic performance. In this article, we review current developments related to the detection of CKD biomarkers using microfluidics. A general trend in this emerging area is the search for novel, sensitive biomarkers for early detection of CKD using technology that is improved by means of microfluidics. It is anticipated that these innovative approaches will be soon adopted and utilized in both clinical and point-of-care settings, leading to improvements in life quality of patients.
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