Osteopontin and symmetric dimethylarginine plasma levels in solitary functioning kidney in children.

AIM: The present study aimed to examine whether plasma osteopontin (pOPN) and symmetric dimethylarginine (pSDMA) are useful biomarkers of renal dysfunction in children with solitary functioning kidney (SFK).

METHODS

We measured circulating pOPN and pSDMA in 51 patients with SFK and no other urinary defects. Patients were subdivided into two groups: primary SFK (pSFK) - unilateral renal agenesis (URA), and secondary SFK (sSFK) - unilateral nephrectomy. The control group (C) contained 21 healthy children, with mean age 9.92 ± 4.85 years. Immunoenzymatic ELISA commercial kits were used to measure pOPN and pSDMA concentrations.

RESULTS

Plasma osteopontin and pSDMA levels in children with SFK were higher than those in healthy participants (p < 0.05). There was no difference in pOPN and pSDMA concentrations between patients with pSFK and those with sSFK (p > 0.05). Receiver operator characteristic analyses performed to define the diagnostic efficiency of serum creatinine, pOPN and pSDMA in identifying children with C(cr)  < 90 mL/min/1.73 m(2) among all examined children revealed no differences between all three AUCs (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Increased pOPN and pSDMA levels were observed in children with SFK. Both pOPN and pSDMA correlated with eGFR; however, the sensitivity and specificity of those markers were not better than those of creatinine.