Podocyte injury is an early hallmark of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and can be influenced by SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i). Early effects of SGLT2i include transient estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) dip and reduced proteinuria; however, the latter may be subtle in patients with normal or moderately increased albuminuria. In such cases, urinary podocyte-derived biomarkers may provide sensitive early indicators of SGLT2i effect. This study prospectively assessed short-term changes in urinary podocyte biomarkers (nephrin, podocin, podocalyxin) following SGLT2i initiation in diabetic and non-diabetic CKD patients. Our cohort had a low urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR) of 19.09 mg/g (6.28; 164.93) and preserved eGFR 45 mL/min/1.73 m2 (36.85; 53.15). At baseline, podocyte biomarkers were mutually correlated, whereas only podocalyxin was associated with UACR. Baseline podocalyxin independently predicted transient eGFR dip and UACR reduction. Early decreases in both podocin and podocalyxin were associated with eGFR decline and lower UACR at 3 months. ROC analyses identified cutoff values for all three biomarkers that predicted short-term eGFR decline, with baseline podocalyxin demonstrating the highest discriminative accuracy. These findings support pleiotropic nephroprotective effects of SGLT2 inhibitors and identify urinary podocyte biomarkers—particularly podocalyxin, and to a lesser extent podocin—as a sensitive indicator of early renal response.
Urs et al. (Mon,) studied this question.