Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common and serious complication of diabetes associated with adverse outcomes of renal failure, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality. Early and accurate identification of DN is therefore of critical importance to improve patient outcomes. Albuminuria, a marker of glomerular involvement in early renal damage, cannot always detect early DN. Thus, more sensitive and specific markers in addition to albuminuria are needed to predict the early onset and progression of DN. Tubular injury, as shown by the detection of tubular injury markers in the urine, is a critical component of the early course of DN. These urinary tubular markers may increase in diabetic patients, even before diagnosis of microalbuminuria representing early markers of normoalbuminuric DN. In this review we summarized some new and important urinary markers of tubular injury, such as neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), liver-type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP), N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (NAG), alpha-1 microglobulin (A1M), beta 2-microglobulin (B2-M), and retinol binding protein (RBP) associated with early DN.
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