Urinary biomarkers of podocyte injury

Podocyturia may be an expression of glomerular disease and is evaluated using urinary podocyte-specific molecules. This article discusses the technical problems of detection and quantification of podocyturia using immunofluorescent staining of specific proteins, urinary podocyte culture, flow cytometry and urinary podocyte-specific molecules (including PCR, immunoblotting and ELISA). Technical problems mean that it is still impossible to define a biomarker for urinary podocyte injury. This article also discusses the future perspectives for podocyturia studies, including fluorescence-activated cell sorting and the study of the proteome of urinary exosomes.