Clinical application neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and kidney injury molecule-1 as indicators of inflammation persistence and acute kidney injury in children with urinary tract infection

Background. The aim of this study was to examine the novel renal biomarkers neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) to assist pediatricians in the assessment of longer duration of inflammation and acute kidney injury (AKI) development during urinary tract infection (UTI). Methods. The patients enrolled in the study comprised 50 children (mean age was 6 months) with UTI. NGAL in serum and urine (sNGAL and uNGAL, resp.) and KIM-1 in urine were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results. uNGAL levels in subjects with longer duration of inflammation were higher (115.37 ng/mL) than uNGAL levels in subjects with shorter duration of inflammation (67.87 ng/mL, P = 0.022). Difference in sNGAL and KIM-1 levels was not significant (P = 0.155 and P = 0.198, resp.). Significant difference was seen in KIM-1 excretion among groups with and without AKI (P = 0.038). KIM-1 was not able to discriminate between subjects with and without AKI (area under the curves (AUC) = 0.620, P = 0.175). Conclusions. uNGAL cannot be used for screening of the duration of inflammation during UTI. Accuracy of KIM-1 in screening of AKI development in children with UTI is low. We suggest larger studies to check the negative predictive value of KIM-1 for the development of AKI.