Urinary NGAL and NGAL/creatinine as tubular biomarkers in type 2 diabetes.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) screening based on albuminuria and creatinine-derived eGFR may miss early tubular injury and normoalbuminuric renal impairment. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and NGAL/creatinine ratio (NGAL/Cr) as complementary biomarkers in 70 patients with type 2 diabetes and 70 controls. NGAL and NGAL/Cr were higher in diabetes, correlated positively with albuminuria and inversely with eGFR and showed strong ROC discrimination for albuminuria. Urinary NGAL and NGAL/Cr may complement albuminuria and eGFR for early detection and risk stratification of DKD.