Genomic biomarkers for chronic kidney disease: the first step towards personalized medicine?

With the prevalence of end stage renal disease steadily increasing, chronic kidney disease (CKD) represents an impending public healthcare challenge. Classical diagnostic biomarkers of CKD, including creatinine, have low sensitivity and specificity. Thus, novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for patients at high risk of early-stage progression are urgently needed. Personalized medicine approaches generally stratify patients according to their biological or genomic make-up. Targeted clinical trials require more precise identification of these subgroups. The use of new biomarkers obtained via high-throughput technologies is expected in future, accompanied by vast improvements in computational power applied in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics studies using biological fluids and renal biopsy tissue. Genomic biomarkers may not only provide additional information regarding the etiology and mechanisms underlying CKD progression, but may also enable early diagnosis and the selection of appropriate drugs, thereby personalizing therapy. This review discusses commonly used research methods in genomic medicine and summarizes currently available genomic biomarkers in inherited and acquired CKD.