Breakthrough in Kidney Health: New Biomarkers Enhance Early Detection and Monitoring, Study Shows
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Drug-induced kidney injury, or nephrotoxicity, is a common complication in clinical medicine that happens when certain drugs at certain doses damage the kidneys. Nephrotoxicity can occur with multiple types of medicines, including anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiretroviral, or chemotherapeutic medicines and can lead to therapies being discontinued or restricted from patients. The findings from this collaboration were published recently in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
Critical Path Institute® (C-Path) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) published results for six biomarkers that could improve the early and accurate detection of kidney injury, leading to both the development of safer medications and better health outcomes for all patients.
The research team examined urinary levels of protein biomarkers in healthy volunteers and patients undergoing treatment for mesothelioma with a chemotherapy drug that is known to have toxic effects on the kidneys. This enabled the researchers to better understand how kidney function changes in response to injury.
The team assessed performance of six promising biomarkers to detect drug induced kidney injury with more sensitivity and specificity than traditional markers. Most of the assessed biomarkers are generated in the kidneys themselves in response to injury or inflammation. This enables detection of kidney injury quicker than current biomarkers, like serum creatinine, which can sometimes take several days to reach abnormal levels.
The research team now hopes to assess whether these biomarkers can be used more broadly to monitor kidney health in healthy volunteers during phase 1 clinical trials.
Ref: Waikar S S, Mogg R et al. Urinary Kidney Injury Biomarker Profiles in Healthy Individuals and After Nephrotoxic and Ischemic Injury. Clin Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 04 January 2025. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.3531
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