Urinary Cytokeratin 20 as a Biomarker for AKI-CKD Transition among Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure and AKI

What is it about?

Heart failure is a major burden for patients and health-care system worldwide, and acute kidney injury (AKI) is the most frequent non-cardiovascular complication in patients with acute heart failure. This kind of patients has a much higher risk of worsening kidney function then leads to a process termed AKI to chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression, which increases the mortality and health care cost. Identifying these patients is very important in clinical practice but remains a challenge. In our recent study, we identify a new urinary biomarker, cytokeratin 20 (CK20), which reflects kidney injury and can serve as predictor for AKI to CKD progression, In the current study, we demonstrated the utility of urinary CK20 as a predictor for AKI to CKD progression in heart failure patients. High concentrations of urinary CK20 were associated with the risk of AKI to CKD progression. Early measurement of urinary CK20 can predict AKI to CKD progression with an excellent performance in patients with acute heart failure.

Featured Image