Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and L-type fatty acid binding protein as diagnostic markers of early acute kidney injury after liver transplantation

• Published in: Biomarkers Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 336 - 342
• Main Authors: Li, Yi, Zhu, Mingli, Xia, Qiang, Wang, Siyue, Qian, Jiaqi, Lu, Renhua, Che, Miaolin, Dai, Huili, Wu, Qingwei, Ni, Zhaohui, Lindholm, Bengt, Axelsson, Jonas, Yan, Yucheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa Healthcare 01.06.2012; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Acute Kidney Injury - blood; Acute Kidney Injury - diagnosis; Acute Kidney Injury - etiology; Acute Kidney Injury - urine; Acute-Phase Proteins - urine; Adult; Area Under Curve; Biomarkers - urine; Creatinine - blood; End Stage Liver Disease - surgery; Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins - urine; Female; Growth factors/cytokines/inflammatory mediators; Humans; Lipocalin-2; Lipocalins - urine; Liver Transplantation - adverse effects; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; oxidative stress; Postoperative Period; Prospective Studies; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - urine; renal disease; ROC Curve
• ISSN: 1354-750X; 1366-5804; 1366-5804
• DOI: 10.3109/1354750X.2012.672458

Objective: We examined the value of two potential novel urinary biomarkers, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and L-type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP), in diagnosing acute kidney injury (AKI) in liver transplant recipients. Methods: NGAL and L-FABP in urinary sample from Twenty-five patients before surgery and at 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 120 h after the anhepatic phase were tested. Standard statistics were used along with receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to evaluate the diagnostic value of selected markers. Results: Urinary NGAL was only slightly elevated at 2 h in the non-AKI group while rose and stayed high from 2-6 h in the AKI group. However, urinary L-FABP rose transiently in both groups 2-120 h following surgery. The level of urinary NGAL presented differences at 2-6 h (p < 0.05) and urinary L-FABP at 4 h (p < 0.05) between AKI and non-AKI groups. ROC analysis showed that area under the curves (AUCs) of NGAL were 0.766, 0.773, and 0.773 at 2, 4 and 6 h respectively while 0.760 of L-FABP at 4 h. Conclusion: Urinary NGAL rather than L-FABP appeared to be a sensitive and specific marker of AKI in liver transplant recipients.