Urine biomarkers can outperform serum biomarkers in certain diseases

Urinary biomarkers offer a non-invasive and easily accessible means of assessing an individual's health and susceptibility to various diseases. Urine biomarkers have advantages in no need or mechanism for stability, specific biomarkers produced by tubules, and non-invasive nature compared with serum biomarkers. Urine biomarkers can provide critical insights into an individual's predisposition to certain conditions, disease progression, and therapeutic response. In this review, we summarized the currently reported urinary biomarkers that outperformed serum biomarkers, including urinary protein biomarkers, gene biomarkers, urinary metabolites, electrolytes, and urinary extracellular vesicles. Combining urinary and serum biomarkers can offer a more comprehensive approach to disease diagnosis, monitoring, and personalized medicine. Despite some challenges in standardization and expanding the repertoire of diseases that can be diagnosed using urinary biomarkers, urinary biomarkers hold immense promise in improving patient outcomes and transforming healthcare.