Cystatin C as a GFR Biomarker: Adoption Challenges and Standardisation Gaps
Cystatin C is a superior biomarker for estimating glomerular filtration rate compared with creatinine because it is unaffected by age, sex, diet, or muscle mass. Despite this advantage, clinical adoption remains limited due to insufficient clinician awareness and a lack of standardised quantitative methods across laboratories. This review, written from a laboratory technician's perspective, analyses the practical barriers to routine cystatin C testing and proposes strategies to improve method harmonisation and clinical uptake.
The original study
Challenges and Perspectives on the Adoption of Cystatin C testing in China: A laboratory technician's perspective.
- Authors
- Nizhamuding X, Liu Y, Zeng J, Zhao H, Zhang T, Zhang C
- Journal
- Clinical biochemistry
- Type
- Journal Article, Review
- PMID
- 39489391
Original abstract
Cystatin C (CysC) belongs to the cysteine protease inhibitor superfamily and is produced by all nucleated cells in the body in very stable amounts independent of age, sex, diet, and muscle mass. CysC is considered an ideal biomarker for assessing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) compared to traditional biomarkers for assessing GFR, such as creatinine. However, CysC is not sufficiently utilized for GFR assessment by clinicians, probably for various reasons such as insufficient understanding among clinicians or a lack of standardized quantitative methods. This review discusses and analyzes the aforementioned issues from the perspective of laboratory technicians.