Evaluation of urinary vanin-1 for the early prediction of cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for esophageal cancer

Cisplatin (CDDP) induces acute kidney injury (AKI) as a side effect during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Urinary vanin-1 excretion may increase during CDDP treatment. We investigated whether urinary vanin-1 is an early biomarker for CDDP-induced AKI.

Thirty patients were administered 80 mg/m² CDDP on day 1 as NAC for esophageal cancer. Blood and urine samples were collected on days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 after CDDP administration. Serum creatinine (sCr) and urinary vanin-1 levels were measured. Creatinine clearance (cCr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were calculated from sCr. Based on the change in sCr after CDDP administration, the AKI and non-AKI groups were defined using the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes classification. Changes in sCr, cCr, eGFR, and urinary vanin-1 levels were compared between the two groups.

A gradual increase in sCr and a decrease in eGFR were observed over time post-CDDP administration, with differences between the two groups becoming significant by day 4. However, urinary vanin-1 levels increased on day 3 after CDDP administration, and the difference between the two groups was significant on day 3. Receiver operating characteristic curves of urinary vanin-1 on day 3 revealed that a cut-off value of 3.17 ng urinary vanin-1/mg urinary creatinine yielded an area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.83 (P < 0.05), 75.0%, and 22.7%, respectively. The non-AKI incidence below the cut-off value of urinary vanin-1 of 3.17 ng/mg uCr was 89.5%.

Urinary vanin-1 is a superior minimally invasive biomarker for the early prediction of CDDP-induced AKI.