Abstract
Biomarkers of kidney disease are substances that identify damage to the renal tract and may reflect renal function. They may be released from the kidney or result from a specific response to damage to the renal tract or changes in renal function.
Serum creatinine is currently the most widely used marker of kidney disease and renal function in clinical practice. However as it is affected by several non-renal factors it is unreliable and so better biomarkers are urgently required.
Several potentially relevant novel biomarkers of kidney disease have been discovered through omic technologies such as genomics, and proteomics. These novel biomarkers could be used to predict the risk of kidney disease, diagnose renal disease after an acute event, suggest the likely outcome (prognosis) in the absence of treatment, and predict the likely response to treatment. Keeping up-to-date with the rapid pace of the developments in this field is difficult. When attempting to do so it is difficult to know which of the myriad of available resources are reliable. To assist our colleagues we have therefore written this chapter which includes tables containing reliable, up-to-date resources. The experts who assisted with the compilation of these tables of resources are acknowledged.