Plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) correlations with cystatin C, serum creatinine, and glomerular filtration rate in patients after heart and lung transplantation.

Objective: Kidney injury represents a major clinical problem in orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) patients which seriously increases the mortality rate. The aim of this work was to evaluate the utility of a new kidney damage marker-neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL)-and its correlations with cystatin C, creatinine, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) among patients after heart or lung transplantation.
Materials and Methods: We examined serum samples from 71 patients after heart transplantation, 7 patients after lung transplantation, and 20 healthy controls to measure serum NGAL using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method; cystatin C using latex immunonephelometry; and creatinine using the alkaline-picrate method.
Results: Serum NGAL levels were significantly elevated among transplant patients, but did not significantly correlate with cystatin C in the transplant group (R = .13; P = .11) or in the control group (R = .26; P = .26), or GFR in the transplant group (R = -.09; P = .25) or in the control cohort (R = .22; P = .36). In the transplant group, serum NGAL positively correlated with serum creatinine (R = .27; P = .001).
Conclusions: Plasma NGAL was not a specific biomarker for monitoring chronic renal disorders. We did not exclude other pathologies that might contribute to increased serum NGAL levels.