Chronic kidney disease (CKD) represents a major challenge to public healthcare. Traditional clinical
biomarkers of renal function (blood
urea nitrogen and serum
creatinine) are not sensitive or specific enough and only increase significantly after the presence of substantial CKD. Therefore, more sensitive
biomarkers of CKD are needed. CKD-specific
biomarkers at an early disease stage and early diagnosis of specific renal diseases would enable improved therapeutic treatment and reduced the personal and financial burdens. The goal of metabolomics is to identify non-targeted, global small-molecule metabolite profiles of complex samples, such as biofluids and tissues. This method offers the potential for a holistic approach to clinical medicine, as well as improvements in disease diagnoses and the understanding of pathological mechanisms. This review article presents an overview of the recent developments in the field of metabolomics, followed by an in-depth discussion of its application to the study of CKD (primary, chronic
glomerulonephritis such as
IgA nephropathy; secondary, chronic renal injury such as
diabetic nephropathy;
chronic renal failure including
end-stage kidney disease with and without undergoing replacement
therapies, etc), including metabolomic analytical technologies, chemometrics, and metabolomics in experimental and clinical research. We describe the current status of the identification of metabolic
biomarkers in CKD. Several markers have been confirmed across multiple studies to detect CKD earlier than traditional clinical chemical and histopathological methods. The application of metabolomics in CKD studies provides researchers the opportunity to gain new insights into metabolic profiling and pathophysiological mechanisms. Particular challenges in the field are presented and placed within the context of future applications of metabolomic approaches to the studies of CKD.