Urinary excretion of liver-type fatty acid-binding protein as a marker of progressive kidney function deterioration in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis

Background: To evaluate the value of basal urinary L-FABP (uL-FABP) excretion as a prognostic indicator of the progression of kidney function impairment in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN). Methods: One hundred twenty-three patients with newly diagnosed, biopsy-proven primary CGN were included. In all patients, and in 28 healthy subjects, uL-FABP was measured using an ELISA. Risk factors of the progression of kidney function were evaluated. The patients were in follow-up for at least 5 years. Results: uL-FABP in the patients with CGN (76.58 +/- 17.3 mu g/g.cr) was greater than in the healthy subjects. A significant positive correlation between uL-FABP and proteinuria (R = 0.501, P<0.01), serum creatinine (R = 0.601, P<0.01) were found. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that uL-FABP >76.58 mu g/g.cr predicts progression of renal function. The cut off values for L-FABP at 119.8 mu g/g.cr was found to be more sensitive, area under the curve (AUC) was 0.95. Conclusion: Urinary L-FABP may be a useful clinical biomarker for monitoring chronic glomerular disease. Urinary L-FABP can help predict the progression of chronic glomerular disease. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.