Association of urinary vanin-1 with kidney function decline in hypertensive patients

Previously, the authors reported the utility of urinary vanin-1 as an early biomarker of kidney injury in spontaneously hypertensive rats and in humans. However, little is known about whether urinary vanin-1 can be used to predict the clinical outcome. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive power of urinary vanin-1 based on kidney function decline in hypertensive patients. The authors measured urinary vanin-1 in 147 patients at the baseline and examined its association with the incidence of ≥20% decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the Cox regression analysis. The mean age of the patients averaged 72.9 ± 8.2 years, and 39% were women. Median (interquartile range) urinary vanin-1 was 0.33 (0-2.6) ng/mg Cr During a median follow-up of 12 months, 14 patients showed kidney function decline. A higher urinary vanin-1 level was associated with an increased risk of kidney function decline (hazard ratio, 9.87; 95% CI, 1.11-87.5) (p = .04) in the fully adjusted model. In conclusion, urinary vanin-1 is an independent risk factor for kidney function decline in hypertensive patients and it could be useful in clinical settings. The underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms warrant additional investigation.