High Prevalence of Immunounreactive Albumin in Urine From Diabetic Patients With a Low Glomerular Filtration Rate and Normoalbuminuria
- Tanya M. Osicka, PHD1,
- Richard J. MacIsaac, PHD, FRACP23,
- George Jerums, MD, FRACP23 and
- Wayne D. Comper, DSC, PHD1
- 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- 2Endocrinology Unit, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
- 3Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
- Address correspondence to Dr. Wayne D. Comper, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria, Australia 3800. E-mail: wayne.comper{at}med.monash.edu.au
Diabetic patients have been shown to excrete increased quantities of albumin, which is undetectable by conventional albumin antibodies (immunounreactive) using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (1). Furthermore, the lead time for the development of microalbuminuria (albumin excretion rate [AER] >20 μg/min) measured by HPLC has been shown to occur 3.9 and 2.4 years earlier than that determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA) for type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients, respectively (2). This study not only identified that progression from normo- to microalbuminuria is associated with an increase in urinary immunounreactive albumin, but also raises the possibility that measurement of total albumin (immunoreactive plus immunounreactive) may allow earlier detection of progression to kidney disease.
The aim of this study was to determine whether a group of type …
