New Biomarkers to Improve Early Detection and Monitoring of Kidney Injury
Posted on 04 Apr 2025
Drug-induced kidney injury, also known as nephrotoxicity, is a prevalent issue in clinical practice, occurring when specific medications at certain doses cause damage to the kidneys. Nephrotoxicity can arise from a variety of drugs, including anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiretroviral, and chemotherapeutic agents, often resulting in the need to discontinue or limit these therapies for patients. Recently, a prominent global kidney safety consortium, along with researchers, has published findings on six biomarkers of kidney injury that may play a crucial role in developing safer medications and improving patient outcomes.
A research team from Critical Path Institute (C-Path, Tucson, AZ, USA) and Boston Medical Center (BMC, Boston, MA, USA) conducted an examination of urinary levels of protein biomarkers in both healthy volunteers and patients receiving chemotherapy for mesothelioma, a drug known to have nephrotoxic effects. This research allowed the team to gain deeper insights into how kidney function is affected by injury. Existing biomarkers can be slow to detect early kidney damage, and the team evaluated six promising biomarkers that offer increased sensitivity and specificity for detecting drug-induced kidney injury when compared to traditional markers. Most of the biomarkers assessed are produced by the kidneys in response to injury or inflammation, providing the ability to detect kidney damage more quickly than current biomarkers like serum creatinine, which can take several days to show abnormal levels.
These biomarkers, measurable in the urine, could assist clinicians in detecting kidney damage within just 24 hours of injury, enabling more timely monitoring during drug development and improving the treatment of at-risk patients in clinical settings. Early detection of kidney injury would allow for quicker intervention, potentially reducing long-term damage and enhancing patient outcomes in various clinical environments. The research team is now looking to explore whether these biomarkers can be used more widely to monitor kidney health in healthy volunteers during phase 1 clinical trials. The results of this collaboration were published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
“These biomarkers have the potential to make a real difference in how we monitor kidney health and manage patients at risk for kidney damage,” said Sushrut Waikar, M.D., MPH, Chief of Nephrology and Interim Medicine Chair at BMC and first author on the paper. “We are hopeful that these findings will contribute to better strategies for preserving kidney function and improving patient care, as well as advancing drug development.”