A critical biomarker of kidney disease may help predict clear cell kidney cancer—the most common form of kidney cancer—years before clinical diagnosis. Kidney-injury-molecule-1 (KIM-1) can be detected in the urine and blood and is generally present at low levels in healthy individuals. Prior research by leaders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has shown that KIM-1 is an important and highly predictive marker for kidney injury. In a new study published in Clinical Cancer Research, BWH investigators, along with colleagues from Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explore whether a blood test can detect higher concentrations of KIM-1 in patients who will go on to develop kidney cancer up to five years later. Their results show that KIM-1 substantially helped distinguish between those who went on to develop kidney cancer from those who did not.
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