Cisplatin is a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug. It is known
for its nephrotoxic side effects with an increased risk of acute
kidney injury. Finding of clinically feasible cisplatin nephrotoxicity
markers is of importance. In our study, we compared neutrophil
gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in serum and urine, the
estimated glomerular filtration rate (based on serum cystatin C)
and urine albumin as markers of nephrotoxicity. The study
involved 11 men and 9 women (mean ± SD age 58.2 ± 9.5 years)
with different malignancies treated with cisplatin in four cycles of
chemotherapy (I – IV). Samples 0-4 were taken before,
immediately after, in 3, 6 and 24 hours after administering
chemotherapy. We detected significant increase of ACR in
Sample 2 (p=0.03) and decrease of eGFR in Sample 4 (p=0.03)
up to 24 hours after cisplatin administration in the first
chemotherapy cycle only. When cumulative effect of cisplatin was
assessed, significantly increased values of urine albumin (vs cycle
I) were found in Sample 0 (p=0.00058), 1 (p=0.00256),
2 (p=0.00456), 3 (p=0.00006) and 4 (p=0.00319) in cycles II to
IV. We found a correlation between values of urine NGAL and
urine albumin (r=0.68, p<0.0001). In conclusion, urine albumin
was the only measured marker that consistently and statistically
significantly increased after cisplatin containing chemotherapy
cycles.