Tubular damage is a complication associated with
nephrotic syndrome and increased levels of urinary
enzymes are of significant value in detection of the same. The aim of our study was to evaluate the use of urinary
lysozyme and
trehalase as markers of tubular dysfunction in
nephrotic syndrome. This study assessed 35
nephrotic syndrome patients and 30 healthy controls matched for age and sex. Urine samples were examined at pretreatment and post treatment (8 weeks) stages for
proteinuria,
lysozyme and
trehalase. At pretreatmant stage there was significant increase in urinary
lysozyme and
trehalase as compared to controls (p<0.001). A good correlation was observed between degree of
proteinuria and urinary
lysozyme (p<0.001;r=0.80) and
trehalase (p<0.001; r=0.74). At the end of 8 weeks of treatment, the patients showed significant decrease in their urinary
lysozyme and
trehalase activity (p<0.001) but no correlation with degree of
proteinuria was observed. Our results indicate that
enzymes like
lysozyme and
trehalase can be used as markers of tubular dysfunction.