New Markers of Kidney Injury

Abstract

The current biomarker standards for assessing acute kidney injury (AKI) include blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SC), which lack sensitivity and specificity for kidney injury. The combined shortcomings of BUN and SC as predictors of nephrotoxicity and the propensity for many classes of medicines to cause drug‐induced nephrotoxicity underscore the urgent need for the development and qualification of more sensitive and specific biomarkers. This article focuses on the importance of new biomarkers of nephrotoxicity in predicting and monitoring early or acute kidney injury.