Urinary kidney injury molecule-1: a sensitive quantitative biomarker for early detection of kidney tubular injury

Sensitive and specific biomarkers are needed to detect early kidney injury. The objective of the present work was to develop a sensitive quantitative urinary test to identify renal injury in the rodent to facilitate early assessment of pathophysiological influences and drug toxicity. Two mouse monoclonal antibodies were made against the purified ectodomain of kidney injury molecule-1 (Kim-1), and these were used to construct a sandwich Kim-1 ELISA. The assay range of this ELISA was 50 pg/ml to 5 ng/ml, with inter- and intra-assay variability of