Urinary Cyclophilin A and serum Cystatin C as biomarkers for diabetic nephropathy in children with type 1 diabetes.

Background: Currently, microalbuminuria is the gold standard for detection and prediction of diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, microalbuminuria appears once significant kidney damage has actually occurred.

Objectives: We investigated the diagnostic role of urinary Cyclophilin-A (uCypA), uCypA/creatinine ratio (uCypA/Cr) and serum Cystatin-C (sCysC) as biomarkers for early detection of DN in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) of short duration (2-5 years) before microalbuminuria emerges.