title: Biomarker of Early Glomerular Injury in Pre-eclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nephrin is an integral part of podocytes that together with endothelial cells and the basement form the glomerular filtration barrier. Placental ischemia triggers a cascade of events that ultimately result in endothelial malfunction, hypertension, podocytopathy and fetal compromise.
  
  
  METHODS
  We review the literature to determine if urine nephrin measurements could serve as a useful biomarker to detect early podocyte injury in pre-eclampsia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our search identifies eight studies published to date. The findings of these studies demonstrate that urine nephrin excretion plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of proteinuria during pre-eclampsia and that this is a good indicator of glomerular injury.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is thus an urgent need for a large multi-centre clinical study using standardized recruitment criteria to determine the full potential of this biomarker in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neonatology , The Townsville Hospital , Douglas , Queensland , Australia .|b Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Hunter Medical Research Institute, John Hunter Hospital, The University of Newcastle , Callaghan , New South Wales , Australia .|c College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, The James Cook University , Townsville City , Queensland , Australia , and.
authors.forename: Yogavijayan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kandasamy
authors.affiliation: d Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , The Townsville Hospital , Douglas , Queensland , Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: c College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, The James Cook University , Townsville City , Queensland , Australia , and.
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rudd
keywords: Glomerular injury; Hypertension; Nephrin; Podocytopathy; Pre-eclampsia