Recent Patents on Biomarkers for AKI

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a diverse clinical syndrome and is defined using its unifying features of a sudden loss or substantial reduction in kidney function due to a parenchymal injury caused by circulatory collapse, ischemiareperfusion, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, endogenous or exogenous toxicants or urinary obstructive injury. Over the last decade, the study of biomarkers for acute kidney injury has provided a number of highly promising candidates to aid in the detection, prognostic stratification, and decision-making process for treatment options as well as to provide novel targets for pharmaceutical intervention. This article provides a brief overview over currently available biomarkers for AKI and summarizes recently issued patents in this field. Patents pertaining to diagnosis or detection of AKI as well as patents describing therapeutic strategies based on novel biomarkers of AKI are discussed separately. The article concludes discussing key points and highlighting the limitations of biomarker research and patenting in this field.