Biomarkers in acute kidney injury - the search for the "renal troponin"

The prognosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) is poor, partly due to significant limitations of the current functional marker-based definition, which results in too small therapeutic window to treat AKI. Therefore, AKI biomarkers are needed to detect AKI earlier. Classical filtration markers are serum creatinine and cystatin C, which, however, show clear limitations for AKI prediction. Early AKI markers are divided into damage markers and "stress" markers. The latter indicate a pre-injury phase with increased AKI risk. The one "renal troponin" will probably never be found because of heterogeneous renal structure and heterogeneous causes of AKI. However, AI-based models with inclusion of biomarkers could significantly improve AKI prediction and prognosis.