The Difference of Urinary Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Level between Liver Cirrhosis Patients with and without Hepatorenal Syndrome

Objective: To determine differences of urinary Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin level in liver cirrhosis patients with or without Hepatorenal Syndrome (HRS). Methods: This study was conducted on 46 liver cirrhosis patients (20 patients without hepatorenal syndrome, 26 patients with hepatorenal syndrome). Diagnosis of HRS was based on International Ascites Club criteria. Urinary NGAL was examined using ELISA method. Data analysis was performed with p<0,05 stated as statistically significant. Result: This study showed more HRS cases was found in male than female, with an average age of 53,95 years old for hepatic cirrhosis without HRS, and 57,35 with HRS. The most common cause of this study is Hepatitis B virus, and the highest grade of severity is in Child Pugh-C. The average urinary NGAL level in liver cirrhosis with HRS is 59,39 ± 58,98 ng/ml and 130,78 ± 45,14 ng/ml in liver cirrhosis without HRS. Conclusion: There was a significant higher urinary NGAL level in liver cirrhosis with HRS (p = 0.000), with the cut-off of urinary NGAL to differentiate cirrhosis patients with and without HRS was 95,115 ng/ml. Keywords: NGAL, HRS, hepatorenal syndrome, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin.

Comparison of Neutrophil Gelatinase-associated Lipocalin and Renal Resistive Index as Acute Kidney Injury Predictor in Critically Ill Patients at ICU H. Adam Malik Hospital Medan

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a complication found in critically ill patients. Current consensus explains that diagnosis of AKI based on increased serum creatinine and decreased urine output. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) level is increased a few hours after tubular damage occurred and can predict AKI more significantly than serum creatinine. Renal resistive index (RRI) is also a good marker in predicting the early stage of AKI. AIM: This study aimed to compare RRI and NGAL level as marker to predict incidence of AKI in critically ill patients treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at H. Adam Malik Hospital Medan. METHODS: This was an observational prospective cohort study and conducted in ICU at H. Adam Malik Hospital Medan in April-May 2021. This study had been approved by the Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine, Sumatera Utara University and H. Adam Malik Hospital Medan. Inclusion criteria are critical patients aged 18–65 years with 1st and 2nd priority level. Consecutive sampling was used. Resistive Index (RI) measured using USG Doppler by researcher and the results confirmed by ICU supervisors, while urine NGAL level measured within 3 h after ICU admission. Plasma urea and creatinine level measured after 24h after ICU admission. RESULTS: A total of 40 samples were collected; percentage of men and women are 66–35%, respectively (p = 0.001). There was a significant difference RI between AKI-group and non-AKI group (0.719 ± 0.060 and 0.060 ± 0.077, respectively) (p = 0.001). RI has a sensitivity of 71%, specificity of 84%, and accuracy of 87% in predicting occurrence of AKI with AUROC = 0.873. Meanwhile, NGAL has a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy (66%, 89%, 78%, respectively) in early prediction of AKI incidence in critically ill patients. CONCLUSION: RI value was higher in AKI group than non-AKI group. RRI has better sensitivity than NGAL in predicting incidence of AKI.

Relation of Baseline Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) Levels and Contrast-Induced Nephropathy following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Background: The risk of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) following coronary intervention is particularly high among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Among these patients, baseline neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), a marker of tubular damage, reflects the severity of renal impairment. We evaluated whether the baseline serum NGAL level may be a marker for the development of CI-AKI following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: Eighty-eight CKD patients treated with PCI were included. Serum NGAL levels were drawn upon hospital admission. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) methods were used to identify the optimal sensitivity and specificity for the observed NGAL level compared with the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) calculated for patients with CI-AKI. Results: Overall CI-AKI incidence was 43%. Baseline serum NGAL levels were significantly higher in patients with CI-AKI than in patients without CI-AKI (150 vs. 103 ng/mL, p < 0.001). According to the ROC curve, baseline NGAL levels performed better than eGFR to predict CI-AKI (AUC 0.753 vs. 0.604), with the optimal cutoff value for baseline NGAL to predict CI-AKI being 127 ng/mL (sensitivity of 68% and specificity of 68%, p < 0.001). In a multivariate logistic regression model, the NGAL level >127 ng/mL ng/mL was independently associated with CI-AKI (HR 9.84, 95% CI: 1.96–40.3; p = 0.01). Conclusion: Baseline serum NGAL levels in CKD patients may identify a high-risk population for CI-AKI following PCI. Further studies on larger populations are required to validate the potential utility of NGAL measurements in monitoring specific CKD-associated conditions.

Serum Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocalin in Patients with Toxic Nephropathies. Prospective Study

Background. Drug induced kidney disorder (DIKD) is a frequent adverse event which contributes to morbidity and even incapacitation. Toxic nephropathy also is one of the pathological syndromes or complications in acute alcohol poisoning (AAP). Recent years experience shows the insensitivity of serum creatinine to the early stages of kidney damage. NGAL has been shown as a preferred marker of acute kidney damage in a variety of clinical settings. However, no similar studies of serum NGAL have been performed in patients with toxic nephropathy. The presence of markers discovers the possibility of earlier detection, timely treatment and prevention of disease progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD), which can improve the patients prognosis. Aims to study serum NGAL levels in patients with AAP and DIKD with clinically diagnosed nephropathy and without signs of kidney damage. The effect of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) on serum NGAL levels was studied. Materials. This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on the basis of the biochemical laboratory of the Karaganda Medical University in conjunction with the toxicological department of the Regional Medical Center (from January 2018 to October 2019). The study included 89 patients with AAP and 50 patients with DIKD. 25 healthy donors (control group) and 25 patients with CKD served as comparison groups. Serum NGAL levels were measured using a commercially available ELISA kit. Results. We detected the increased serum NGAL level in both groups with drug-induced nephropathy and nephropathy, caused by AAP compared with the control group values (p 0.01). However, there were no significant differences in NGAL level, depending on the type of toxic nephropathy. After ranking the GFR, it was revealed that GFR did not affect the serum NGAL level (F = 2.21; p = 0.12) and its increase was observed both at reduced and increased GFR relative to the control group values (p 0.05). Conclusions. The results of our study showed a multiple increase in the concentration of NGAL in serum not only in patients with toxic nephropathy, but also in patients with increased GFR, even in the absence of clinical and laboratory signs of impaired renal function.

Urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) measurement is not predictive for ureteral patency in pediatric patients following pyeloplasty: a pilot study

Objective: To evaluate the benefit of urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) measurement to predict the ureteral patency in pediatric patients undergoing pyeloplasty. Materials and Methods: Ureteropelvic junction obstruction patients who underwent unilateral dismembered pyeloplasty had urine NGAL measurements taken intraoperatively during pyeloplasty and postoperatively at six months following surgery. All patients were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively with renal scans. Pairwise comparisons and correlation analyses were performed to determine the dynamics and benefits of urine NGAL measurement. Results: Thirteen patients were included in this pilot study with a mean age of 3.2 years at surgery. Mean intraoperative bladder urine level was 4.43 ng/mL, and median intraoperative renal pelvic urine NGAL level was 3.70 ng/mL. There was no significant difference between these two levels (p-value = 0.76). Six months after pyeloplasty, 9/13 patients demonstrated significant reduction in the bladder urine NGAL level (at least 50% reduction), and 5/13 patients showed ureteral patency based on postoperative renal scan (more than 5% improvement in differential renal function or the conversion of diuretic half time. However, the finding of significant reduction of urine NGAL level did not correlate with ureteral patency (r = -0.50, p-value = 0.08). Conclusion: Although bladder urine NGAL level reduces in most pediatric patients following pyeloplasty, this decline is not reflective of the finding of ureteral patency from renal scanning. The benefits of urine NGAL measurement in this context remain unclear and require further large-scale investigation.

Human Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin: A New Biomarker in Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome

AIM Human neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a protein considered as a noninvasive prognostic biomarker in Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACO). In this study we aimed to show the usability of NGAL as a biomarker in ACO characterized with airway inflammation. MATERIAL-METHOD: Three patient groups (Group I: COPD, n: 50, Group II: Asthma, n:50, Group III: ACO, n:50) and a healhty non smoker group (Group IV, n:50) are taken into study. The serum NGAL levels of groups are compared. In addition, in Group I,II,III the level of serum NGAL is compared with the age, duration of smoking (pocket/year), number of attack per year, respiratory function values, serum C reaktive protein (CRP, mg/dL), serum IgE (IU/mL), serum neutrophil (%) and serum lymphocyte (%), blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte rate and atopy. FINDINGS: In patients having ACO when the maximum level of serum exist, it is observed that serum NGAL level is increased as the number of attacks is increased (p = 0.002). On the other hand in the patients having ACO there was also positive correlation between NLR and serum NGAL level (p < 0.05). There was no other relation found among the other variables. CONCULISION: In the chronic inflamatuar lung diseases the findings of increase in serum NGAL levels while the severity of the disease suggest us serum NGAL levels might be used as a biomarker for evaluating the inflammation.

Evaluation of urinary NGAL level in children with congenital heart disease as a possible early indicator of nephropathy

Introduction: Nephropathy as a consequence of congenital heart disease (CHD), especially cyanotic heart disease, has been detected since past decades. However, lack of a diagnostic method at early stages of the disease, caused patients referring when nephropathy is established and also complicated with severe proteinuria and renal failure. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is known as one of the newest biomarkers for early detection of renal parenchymal damage. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the role of urinary NGAL level in early detection of nephropathy in pediatrics with CHD. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate urinary NGAL as a potential biomarker for the early detection of renal involvement in children with CHD. Patients and Methods: In this case–control study, urinary NGAL levels of 42 children with CHD (case group) and 42 healthy children (control group) with the matched ages were measured. Afterward, we compared mean urinary NGAL levels between these two groups to find a possible significant difference. Results: In this study, mean urinary NGAL level in patients with CHD and healthy children was 3.83 μg/mL and 1.87 μg/mL, respectively. Although the mean urine NGAL level was higher in children with CHD compared to healthy children, this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: in this study, it can be concluded that, urinary NGAL level cannot be used as an early diagnostic test of nephropathy in children with CHD.

Serum NGAL is elevated in patients with asthma and persistent airflow obstruction

Background: Neutrophilic airway inflammation is one of the features of severe asthma. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), or lipocalin-2, is a glycoprotein associated with neutrophilic inflammation and can be detected in blood. Recently, blood NGAL levels have been reported to be elevated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the clinical significance of serum NGAL levels in patients with asthma has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to explore the association between serum NGAL level and clinical parameters in patients with asthma.Methods: Sixty-one non-smoking people with stable asthma were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent blood collection and pulmonary function tests. The associations between serum NGAL levels and clinical parameters were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Serum NGAL levels in patients with asthma and obstructive ventilatory disorder were higher than those in patients with asthma without obstructive ventilatory disorder (76.4 ± 51.4 ng/mL vs 39.3 ± 27.4 ng/mL, p=0.0019). Serum NGAL levels were correlated with forced expired flow at 50% of vital capacity %predicted and forced expired flow at 25% of vital capacity %predicted (r=-0.3373, p=0.0089 and r=-0.2900, p=0.0234, respectively). Results of a multiple regression analysis demonstrated that serum NGAL level was independently associated with obstructive ventilatory disorder.Conclusion: Serum NGAL levels were elevated in patients with asthma and obstructive ventilatory disorder. NGAL may be involved in airway remodeling possibly mediated by neutrophilic inflammation in asthma.