Available online www.jocpr.com Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2016, 8(4):56-61 Research Article ISSN : 0975-7384 CODEN(USA) : JCPRC5 56 KIM-1 as a biomarker to predict and diagnose Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) Dania Ismail 1,2 and Almoutassem Billah Zetoune 1,2 1 Almazzeh Highway, Higher Education Students Resident, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic 2 Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Damascus University _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), a recently discovered transmembrane protein, is expressed in dedifferentiated proximal renal tubular epithelial cells in damaged regions. It may participate in the progress of renal injury or repair. Many studies have illustrated the different functions of KIM-1 in various renal diseases including protective functions in acute kidney injury and damaging functions in chronic kidney Disease. Studies have also shown the importance of this protein in prediction and diagnosis of acute renal injury as it starts to elevate after 6-12 hours of injury occurrence compared with creatinine which needs 2-3 days to rise. Urine and Serum levels of KIM-1, creatinine, urea and uric acid were measured in samples gathered from 85 patients divided into 4 groups as following: - Patients with acute renal injury (ARI). - Patients with chronic renal injury (CRI). - Patients who had acute renal attack after they had been diagnosed with chronic kidney injury. - High risk individuals from whom samples were collected 2 hours and 3 days after the occurrence of the acute injury. We found higher levels of KIM-1 in patient groups as compared to control group. We also found higher levels of KIM-1 in High risk individuals as compared to controls while the levels of creatinine and urea were still within the normal range. However, the three parameters were increased in samples taken after three days of injury. We found that urine and serum levels of KIM-1are elevated earlier in acute renal injury. Thus KIM-1 level can be used as a predictor of acute renal injury. Key words: KIM-1, acute renal injury, chronic renal injury. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Acute kidney injury (AKI) refers to a common syndrome that results from multiple causative factors and occurs in a variety of clinical settings, with varied clinical manifestations, ranging from a minimal elevation in serum creatinine to anuric renal failure. AKI is characterized functionally by a rapid decline in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and biochemically by the resultant accumulation of nitrogenous wastes such as blood-urea nitrogen and creatinine. The term AKI has largely replaced acute renal failure, since the latter designation overemphasizes the failure of kidney function and fails to account for the diverse molecular, biochemical and structural processes that characterize the AKI syndrome.[1] Renal failure causes deficiency in the production of waste containing nitrogen, which is usually measured by urea causing an elevation in the concentration of urea in the serum or the so-called Uraemia. Uraemia classified into: - Prerenal. - Renal. - Postrenal.[2]