Organ Transplantation and Artificial Organs

Biography

Biography: Sang Soo Kim

Abstract

The increasing number of people with diabetes has had a major impact on the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease, which is a metabolic disorder with high morbidity and mortality and is the leading cause of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). To improve the lives of people with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and to reduce the impact on society, early identification of the development or progression of DKD using appropriate screening and diagnostic tools is very important in order to provide timely and proper management. Albuminuria is considered as a sensitive marker of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk, and is used as the first clinical indicator of DKD. Although the presence of urinary albumin is recognized as an early marker of DKD, significant glomerular damage has already occurred by the time albuminuria is apparent. It has been suggested that Non-Albumin Proteinuria (NAP), rather than albuminuria, might be an important biomarker for early detection of the de­velopment and progression of DKD. We recently demonstrated that urinary NAP might be a sensitive and specific marker of tubular damage that predicts renal impairment in type-2 diabet­ic patients. Furthermore, non-albumin proteinuria showed additional value over and above that of albuminuria for predicting the progression of CKD in patients with type-2 diabetes. Whereas, there is no doubt that hypertension plays a pivotal role in developing DKD. Thus, the role of NAP as biomarkers in hypertensive disorder might be considered quite interesting in the future.