Blood Metabolites May Serve as Kidney Function Indicators

A nontargeted metabolomics approach in which gas and liquid chromatography were coupled to mass spectrometry was used to quantify 493 small molecules in human serum and relate them to changes in kidney function due to chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Metabolomics is the study of chemical processes involving metabolites, while the metabolome represents the collection of all metabolites in a biological cell, tissue, organ, or organism that are the end products of cellular processes. Changes in serum metabolite concentrations may result from impaired kidney function and can be used to estimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), an indicator of kidney performance.

Investigators at the University of Freiburg (Germany) used a combination of gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to quantify small molecules in human serum. They reported finding six metabolites in the blood that had strong correlations with kidney function. In addition, two of the metabolites, pseudouridine and C-mannosyltryptophan, were equally good measures of kidney function and disease progression in patients with CKD compared with the routinely measured creatinine. However, creatinine only starts to become elevated after 50% of the kidneys’ function has already been lost.

“These markers therefore represent promising candidates to further improve the estimation of kidney function by combining them with information on creatinine concentrations. This will facilitate an improved diagnosis of CKD, enabling treatment and prevention of complications,” said senior author Dr. Anna Köttgen, a researcher in the department of nephrology at the University of Freiburg.

Details of the method for detection of kidney function metabolites in the blood were published in the October 8, 2015, online edition of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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