Mayo study spotlights new biomarkers for quick kidney injury alert

Investigators from the Mayo Clinic say a recent study helped uncover two new biomarkers for acute kidney injury which should flag at-risk patients significantly earlier than currently used biomarkers.

The researchers first reviewed 340 biomarkers for kidney injury risk and found two--Insulin Growth Factor Binding Protein-7 (IGFBP-7) and Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-2 (TIMP-2)--that appeared the most promising. Then they mounted a separate study to confirm what they suspected.

These two new biomarkers can be swiftly tested in urine and will help identify patients 12 to 36 hours earlier than clinicians have been able to. That should help doctor avoid serious and expensive complications.

"Failure to recognize and manage acute kidney injury in the early stages can lead to devastating outcomes for patients and increased costs to the health care system. Unfortunately, current blood and urine tests are not able to detect it early enough to avoid further complications or provide any chance for intervention," says lead author Dr. Kianoush B. Kashani, a nephrologist and intensivist at Mayo Clinic. 

- here's the release from Mayo Clinic