The Usefulness of Cystatin C as a Marker for Chronic Kidney Disease

Background : Diagnostic marker to detect chronic kidney disease (CKD) at early stage is important as early intervention can slow the loss of kidney function. Plasma or serum Cystatin C (CysC) is said to be a superior marker for CKD compared to serum creatinine (SCr) to detect mild GFR reduction between 60 and 90 ml/min/1.73m2. Methods: We analysed blood and urine samples from 418 normal subjects and 37 Type 2 diabetes patients (T2DM) with CKD. Estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was determined using CKD-EPI. We compared the level CysC by CKD staging. Then, the correlation CysC and eGFR were compared between the normal subjects and the T2DM patients.Results : Plasma CysC level increase with the progression of CKD and was significantly elevated in CKD stage 2. CysC levels were highly correlated with eGFR in the T2DM patients. Conclusion: These results indicated that CysC have the potential of detecting early CKD especially in those with high risk such as the T2DM patients and also hypertension.