Metabolomics in monitoring kidney transplantsDavid S. Wishart
The success of any given kidney transplant is closely tied to
the ability to monitor patients and responsively change their
medications. Transplant monitoring is still, however,
dependent on relatively old technologies: serum creatininelevels, urine output, blood pressure, blood glucose and
ß 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
histopathology of biopsy samples. These older
technologies do not offer sufficient specificity, sensitivity, oraccuracy to allow appropriate and timely interventions. Using the tools of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics
new biomarkers are being found that may greatly improve
The first successful kidney transplant was performed
transplant monitoring and significantly enhance graft
more than 50 years ago In the intervening period,
survival. This review describes the basic principles of
kidney transplantation has become the most successful
metabolomics and summarizes a number of recent
and widespread organ transplant operation performed
developments in the use of metabolite biomarkers and
today. Kidney transplants now account for more than
metabolomics to monitor kidney transplants.
60% of the 25 000 organ transplants performed annually
in North America. This life-saving, life-transforming
Changes in the concentration profiles of a number of small
surgery would not be possible without carefully con-
molecule metabolites found in either blood or urine can be
trolled immunosuppression. Prior to the development
used to localize organ damage, identify organs at risk of
of modern immunosuppressive techniques, 1-year graft
rejection, assess organs suffering from ischemia–
survival was less than 65% Thanks to the develop-
repurfusion injury or identify organs that have been
ment of calcineurin inhibitors and other modern immu-
nosuppressive therapies, 1-year postengraftment survival
now approaches 90% Long-term organ survival, how-
The application of metabolomics to kidney transplant
ever, is not yet optimal. About 25% of all kidney trans-
monitoring is still very much in its infancy. Nevertheless,
plants fail within 5 years after transplantation while
there are a number of easily measured metabolites in both
10-year graft survival rates range from 33% for deceased
urine and serum that can provide reliable indications of
donor kidneys to 67% for living donor grafts
organ function, organ injury, and immunosuppressive drugtoxicity. As the field matures, metabolomics may eventually
Transplants may fail for any number of reasons including
lead to the development of rapid, inexpensive and
preoperative organ stress, surgical complications, post-
noninvasive approaches to assist clinicians in monitoring
operative infection, acute rejection, or immunosuppres-
sive nephrotoxicity. Organ loss is not the only concern. Transplant patients also face increased risks for devel-
oping diabetes, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, hyper-
kidney transplant, metabolites, metabolomics, renal
tension, chronic viral infections (hepatitis B virus,
cytomegalovirus or BK virus), bone disease and lym-phoma Because of the ever-present risk of post-
Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens 15:637–642. ß 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
engraftment failure and other health complications,kidney transplant patients must be monitored closely,
aDepartments of Biological Sciences and Computing Science, University of Albertaand bNational Research Council, National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT),
requiring regular checks on renal function, cardiac func-
tion, signs of infection and immunosuppressive drug
Correspondence to David Wishart, 2-21 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E8Tel: +1 780 492 0383; fax: +1 780 492 1071; e-mail:
The monitoring of transplants and transplant patients,
Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension 2006, 15:637–642
however, is still dependent on somewhat older technol-ogies: serum creatinine levels, total urine output, bodytemperature, blood pressure or blood glucose. In somecases, these simple clinical assays do not offer sufficientspecificity, sensitivity, or accuracy to allow appropriate
Copyright Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
and timely interventions. As a result, costly follow-up
became possible with the advent of recent technological
biopsies and time-consuming histopathological measure-
breakthroughs in small molecule separation and identi-
ments are typically required to make definitive diag-
fication. These include the development of capillary
noses. Recent studies suggest that even these ‘gold-
electrophoresis and ultra-high pressure liquid chromatog-
standard’ histology assays are not without their problems
raphy (UPLC) systems for rapid compound separation,
Given these limitations, more and more transplant
the invention of robust mass spectrometry instruments
specialists are looking to the emerging fields of genomics,
for precise mass determination, the development of high-
proteomics and metabolomics to improve the current
resolution, high throughput nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) spectrometers and the creation of new softwaretools to rapidly process spectral or chromatographic
The hope is that these high-throughput ‘omic’ tech-
patterns With these hardware and software inno-
niques could help identify combinations of biomarkers
vations it is now possible to identify and quantify not just
that might be used to inexpensively and noninvasively
one or two small molecules at a time, but literally dozens
identify transplantation problems far earlier and far more
of small molecule metabolites in as little as a few minutes
robustly than is currently possible. Proteomic methods
have already identified several urinary protein bio-
metabolomics is what distinguishes it from more
markers that seem to robustly identify acute rejection
and other renal disorders Similar collections of
transcript biomarkers have also been identified fromkidney biopsies using microarray experiments As
In clinical chemistry, most metabolites are typically
we shall see later, however, small molecule metabolites
identified and quantified using colorimetric chemical
may well prove to be the most useful biomarkers for
assays. In metabolomics, a large number of metabolites
monitoring kidney function and detecting adverse renal
are measured using non-chemical, non-colorimetric
events. This is because the kidney is fundamentally a
methods such as gas chromatography –mass spectro-
metabolic organ designed to concentrate or filter small
metry, tandem mass spectrometry or NMR spectroscopy.
molecule metabolites and small molecule toxins. There-
Interestingly, in some versions of metabolomic analysis,
fore one should expect changes in metabolite levels in
the compounds are not identified; only their spectral
blood or urine to be both more detectable and more
patterns and intensities are recorded In other
reflective of kidney function than subtle changes to
versions of metabolomic analysis, all (or most) of the
the kidney’s proteome or transcriptome
compounds are identified and quantified The former approach is based strongly on computer-
In this review we will look at how the measurement of
aided pattern recognition and sophisticated statistical
metabolites or metabolic profiles can be used to monitor
techniques. The latter approach relies on spectral
kidney function. Specifically we will cover three areas in
curve-fitting and prior chemical or spectral knowledge.
which metabolite measurements or metabolomic studies
Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages,
are having an impact in renal transplantation. These
although there is a strong preference for absolute
include the application of metabolomics towards asses-
compound identification and quantification.
sing ischemia–reperfusion injury; assessing immunosup-pressive drug toxicity and monitoring transplant organ
Just as genes and proteins are normally associated with
function and localizing organ damage. Before addressing
specific pathways and processes, so too are metabolites.
these specific applications in kidney transplantation,
As might be expected, most of the small molecule
however, it is perhaps worthwhile to briefly discuss the
metabolites measured by metabolomic methods are tied
to generic metabolic processes (glycolysis, gluconogen-esis, lipid metabolism) found in all living cells. Changes
in the relative concentrations of certain ‘universal’ meta-
bolites such as glucose, citrate, lactate, 2-oxoglutarate and
measurement of large numbers of small molecule
others reflect changes in cell viability (apoptosis), levels
(<1500 Da) metabolites. Just as genes are part of the
of oxygenation (anoxia, ischemia, oxidative stress), local
genome and proteins are part of the proteome, meta-
pH, general homeostasis and so on These molecules
bolites are part of the metabolome. The metabolome
obviously can be quite informative of cell function or
is the collection of all small molecule metabolites
cell stress, and therefore organ function. Other kinds
(endogenous or exogenous) that can be found in a cell,
of metabolites are specifically associated with tissue
organ or organism. Metabolomics is a relatively new term,
remodeling, muscle atrophy and myofibrillar breakdown
having been coined in 2000 Metabolomics is also
(methyl-histidine, creatine, tuarine, glycine). Changes in
known as metabonomics or metabolic profiling .
the levels of these metabolites can provide important
Just like genomics and proteomics, metabolomics only
information about the extent of tissue repair or tissue
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Metabolomics in kidney transplants Wishart
damage Some compounds, such as trimethyla-
close similarity between rat and human metabolism, it
mine-N-oxide (TMAO), are actually used as buffers to
is likely that the findings in these rat models will translate
stabilize serum proteins from the effects of accumulated
waste products . In other words, each metabolite hasits own story to tell. The challenge for both the physician
The lone human study on ischemia –repurfusion injury
and the scientist is to figure out what that story is.
used metabolic profiling to identify the presence ofsignificantly elevated serum levels of hypoxanthine
and inosine (hypoxanthine nucleoside) following kidney
reperfusion Hypoxanthine and inosine are both
Kidney transplantation is particularly traumatic to a
well known markers of ischemia and oxidative damage.
healthy donor organ as it requires the removal of the
Both molecules are typically formed as breakdown pro-
organ from the host blood supply for a lengthy period of
ducts of ATP. Hypoxanthine can be converted to
time (ischemia time). Obviously, the shorter the ischemia
xanthine and then to uric acid via an enzyme called
time the better the chance the organ has of recovering
xanthine oxidoreductase. As an oxidase, this enzyme uses
and functioning. Longer periods of ischemia are known to
molecular oxygen as electron acceptor and generates a
seriously damage most kidneys In addition, tissues
superoxide along with other reactive oxygen products,
can also be damaged by the reoxygenation or reperfusion
which upon reperfusion and re-oxygenation can lead to
process. Reperfusion injury is a term used for the tissue
further oxidative tissue damage. While this study did not
damage caused when the blood supply returns to the
correlate the levels of ischemia–repurfusion injury or
transplanted organ after an extended period of ischemia.
graft function with hypoxanthine levels, it does reaffirm
The absence of blood oxygenation creates a condition
that better markers for ischemia –repurfusion injury do
in which restored circulation results in inflammation
exist. Collectively, these studies illustrate that metabo-
lomic methods could significantly improve the monitor-
than restoration of normal function. This damage is
ing of ischemia –repurfusion injury and further enhance
caused by white blood cells, inflammatory proteins and
our understanding of the effects of ischemia and
free radicals flowing back into the tissue during the
reperfusion after kidney transplantation.
The identification of ischemia –repurfusion injury in
newly transplanted kidneys is particularly challenging.
Kidney transplants would not be possible without immu-
Current methods rely on relatively simple and nonspe-
nosuppressive therapies. Immunosuppression for kidney
cific measures such as serum creatinine, urine output and
transplant recipients, however, can also lead to nephro-
biopsies As a result there has been a growing
toxicity as well as elevated risks for cardiovascular
interest in the development of more reliable biomarkers
disease (CVD), diabetes and cancer. The detection
and less invasive procedures, including metabolomic
and monitoring of these adverse drug effects are particu-
methods. To date most metabolomic studies on ischemia–
larly challenging as relatively few tests exist for measur-
ing immunosuppressive drug or drug metabolite levels
and no single test exists for detecting the wide range of
known adverse drug effects. Metabolomics may offer an
studies found that the extent of ischemia –repurfusion
answer to these problems. A key advantage of metabo-
injury was correlated with elevated levels of citrate,
lomics over other ‘omic’ approaches is the fact that
dimetheylamine, lactate and acetate in the urine. It
metabolomics is ideally suited for monitoring drugs
was also noted that ischemia–repurfusion injury was
and drug metabolites as well as for tracking the drug-
highly correlated with increased levels of allantoin
induced changes to organ function and organ metabolism.
(50–100 times normal) and TMAO in the blood. Allan-
This application is particularly important for the immu-
toin, which is an oxidative product of uric acid, is a
nosuppressive drugs cyclosporine, sirolimus and tacroli-
common marker of oxidative cell stress. On the other
mus. These potent drugs exhibit large inter-individual
hand, TMAO is a homeostatic ‘rescue’ compound that
variability in their metabolism and a narrow therapeutic
allows blood proteins to handle increased concentrations
of urea and guanidine (both strong protein denaturants)that arise during renal failure or renal stress
Calcineurin inhibitors are metabolized by two cyto-
Additionally TMAO is known to be a marker of renal
chrome P450 variants known as CYP3A4 and CYP3A5.
medullar injury. Surprisingly, it was determined that
Polymorphisms in these enzymes leading to ‘ultrafast’
serum creatinine levels, which have long been used as
or ‘ultraslow’ metabolizers may have significant con-
an injury marker, did not correlate with the level of
sequences for organ function and patient health
ischemia –reperfusion damage Because of the
To help address this issue, metabolomic techniques (high
Copyright Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
pressure liquid chromatography –mass spectrometry)
Metabolomics to assess organ function and
have recently been developed to rapidly track serum
concentrations of cyclosporine A (CsA) and five of its
As has been remarked earlier, posttransplant monitoring
known metabolites among transplant recipients
of organ function is particularly important for identifying
Interestingly the concentration of one particular CsA
signs of renal dysfunction, for localizing organ damage or
metabolite, known as AM19, was found to correlate
for detecting the early stages of acute rejection. Close
strongly with several inflammatory and atherosclerotic
monitoring can allow preemptive or corrective action to
markers. These data suggest that adverse effects may be
be implemented before the organ is irreparably damaged.
predicted and mitigated by using metabolomics to track
Outside of serum creatinine measurements to assess gross
certain CsA metabolite concentrations. Similar high-
organ function and protocol biopsies to help localize
organ damage, however, relatively few alternative tests
methods have also been used to develop effective blood
are being used. Given the demonstrated potential of
assays to monitor the concentrations of the immunosup-
metabolite measurements, this is somewhat surprising.
pressant mycophenolic acid and its metabolites
Indeed, over the past 20 years more than 30 metabolomicpapers have been published describing a plethora of
In addition to these drug-oriented metabolic profiling
urinary and serum biomarkers associated with posttrans-
studies, several NMR and mass spectrometry-based
plantation function, renal dysfunction, acute rejection,
metabolomic studies recently appeared that describe
subclinical rejection and localized organ damage. One
the consequences of CsA on endogenous metabolites
feature common to almost all of these studies is the
These effects, which were assayed using rat
substantial (three to four-fold) increase seen in both urine
models, include elevated levels of urinary glucose,
and serum concentrations of TMAO As noted
acetate, trimethylamine and succinate along with
before, this metabolite is a homeostatic rescue compound
reduced levels of urinary TMAO, kynurenate, xanthur-
that helps stabilize serum proteins from the effects of
enate, citrate and riboflavin . A more recent study
accumulated waste products. In addition to reports of
focusing on serum instead of urinary metabolites
elevated levels of TMAO, other organic amines (tri-
found that both CsA and sirolimus led to elevated levels
methylamine, dimethylamine) and amino acids (glycine,
of glucose, hydroxybutyrate, creatine, creatinine, TMAO
alanine) have also been found. Metabolomic studies of
and cholesterol along with reduced concentrations of
transplanted, dysfunctional or rejected kidneys have also
glutathione in the blood. These results are consistent
been used to detect the presence of elevated (two to five-
with many of the calcineurin inhibitor complications seen
fold) serum levels of nephrotoxins such as hippuric acid
in humans including diabetes (elevated glucose in urine
and uric acid Kidney dysfunction is also associ-
and blood, elevated hydroxybutyrate), heightened risk of
ated with elevated serum levels of nitric oxide synthase
CVD (reduced riboflavin, elevated cholesterol), medullar
inhibitors such as phenylacetic acid and dimethy-
damage (elevated serum TMAO and creatinine levels),
larginine which lead to significantly reduced nitric
increased incidence of kidney stones (low levels of
oxide production Reduced nitric oxide levels are
citrate), proximal tubule damage (reduced kynurenate
often correlated with hypertension and cardiovascular
and xanthurenate) and general oxidative stress (high
complications, both of which tend to further diminish
levels of acetate and succinate, reduced glutathione).
kidney function. Damaged kidneys also appear to rapidly
Metabolomic studies in humans have shown similar
elevate serum and urinary levels of lactate, acetate,
CsA toxicity profiles including reduced citrate and
succinate, citrate and urea, which are generally con-
increased oxalate levels increased cholesterol or
sidered to be markers of Kreb’s cycle (i.e. metabolic)
LDL levels increased malondialdehyde (a marker
distress, increased anaerobic metabolism and tubular
for oxidative stress) and glucose intolerance In
acidosis The identification of these previously
addition, human metabolic profiling studies focused on
unidentified metabolic imbalances is leading to thera-
CsA and tacrolimus toxicity have shown increased levels
peutic and dietary interventions that appear to have some
of serum uric acid (a well known nephrotoxin)
as well as increased levels of homocysteine and otherCVD risk markers
Noninvasive (i.e. biopsy-free) approaches to localizeorgan damage are another area where metabolomic
Overall, these results illustrate the potential of using
approaches may eventually find some clinical utility.
metabolomics as a ‘one-stop’ shop for assessing immu-
A growing body of research is accumulating which shows
nosuppressive drug toxicity. Metabolomics appears to be
that it is possible to correlate localized kidney damage
flexible enough to allow for the noninvasive tracking of
with distinct metabolite patterns For example, using
drug and drug metabolite levels (i.e. exogenous metab-
olites) as well as the noninvasive tracking of endogenous
researchers have found that damage to the proximal
straight tubules (via D-serine) is typically associated with
Copyright Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
Metabolomics in kidney transplants Wishart
increased levels of lactate along with elevated levels of
Murray JE, Barnes BA, Atkinson JC. Fifth report of the Human KidneyTransplant Registry. Transplantation 1967; 5:752–755.
the amino acids tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine,
Cecka JM. The UNOS Scientific Renal Transplant Registry – 2000. Clin
tyrosine and valine Straight tubule injury is also
manifested by reduced levels of methylsuccinic, sebacic
Cecka JM. The OPTN/UNOS renal transplant registry. Clin Transpl 2004; 1–16.
and xanthurenic acid. Meanwhile damage to the proximal
Oberholzer J, Testa G, Sankary H, et al. Kidney transplantation at the
convoluted tubules (via gentamicin) is generally associ-
University of Illinois at Chicago from 1988–2004. Clin Transpl 2004;143–149.
ated with elevated levels of urinary glucose and reduced
Djamali A, Premasathian N, Pirsch JD. Outcomes in kidney transplantation.
levels of TMAO, xanthurenic acid and kynurenic acid
On the other hand it has been noted that renal
Hariharan S. BK virus nephritis after renal transplantation. Kidney Int 2006;
papillary and medullar injury (via bromoethaneamide) is
This nice review describes the emerging importance of the BK (polyoma) virus in
characterized by increased urinary concentrations of glu-
taric acid, creatine and adipic acid along with reduced
Veronese FV, Manfro RC, Roman FR, et al. Reproducibility of the Banff
classification in subclinical kidney transplant rejection. Clin Transplant
levels of citrate, succinate, oxoglutarate and TMAO
In contrast, renal cortical damage (via mercuric chloride)
The authors use a multipathologist assessment to highlight the problems asso-ciated with using the Banff classification protocol in identifying and classifying
is associated with increased urinary glucose, alanine,
transplant rejection events by histopathology.
valine, lactate, hippurate and decreased citrate, succinate
Schaub S, Rush D, Wilkins J, et al. Proteomic-based detection of urine
and oxoglutarate While it may be some time before
proteins associated with acute renal allograft rejection. J Am Soc Nephrol2004; 15:219–227.
these animal model results can be translated to humans in
10 O’Riordan E, Goligorsky MS. Emerging studies of the urinary proteome: the
the transplant clinic, the possibility of using simple
end of the beginning? Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens 2005; 14:579–585.
metabolic profiles to noninvasively characterize the foci
This is a useful review about the emerging importance and untapped potential ofurinary proteomics in monitoring renal function.
of organ damage is obviously quite appealing.
11 Eikmans M, Roos-van Groningen MC, Sijpkens YW, et al. Expression of
surfactant protein-C, S100A8, S100A9, and B cell markers in renal allografts:
investigation of the prognostic value. J Am Soc Nephrol 2005; 16:3771–3786.
The application of metabolomics to kidney transplant
This is a nice example of how transcriptomics and microarrays can be used to
monitoring is still very much in its infancy. It is now quite
identify specific biomarkers for predicting transplant outcomes.
12 Wishart DS. Metabolomics: the principles and applications to transplantation.
apparent that there are a number of metabolites that
Am J Transplant 2005; 5:2814–2820.
can be easily measured in both urine and serum and can
This is the first review published on the topic of metabolomics and organ
provide reliable indications of organ function, organ
transplantation. It provides a good historical overview of metabolic profiling beingapplied to monitor a wide range of solid organ transplants.
injury, and immunosuppressive drug toxicity. Indeed
13 Drysdale R, Bayraktaroglu L. Current awareness. Yeast 2000; 17:159–166.
the American Society of Nephrology has recently
14 Nicholson JK, Lindon JC, Holmes E. ‘Metabonomics’: understanding the
endorsed the development of core metabolomics facili-
metabolic responses of living systems to pathophysiological stimuli via multi-variate statistical analysis of biological NMR spectroscopic data. Xenobiotica
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materials As the field advances, it is likely that
15 Thompson JA, Markey SP. Quantitative metabolic profiling of urinary organic
more metabolite markers or more specific metabolic
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profiles will be discovered and clinically validated, allow-
16 Dunn WB, Bailey NJ, Johnson HE. Measuring the metabolome: current
ing even more precise diagnostic determinations. While
analytical technologies. Analyst 2005; 130:606–625.
metabolomics clearly offers a number of exciting pro-
This is a superb summary of the technologies and general methodologicalapproaches being used in metabolomics. It is well written and very comprehensive.
spects, one must always remember that metabolites are
17 Lindon JC, Holmes E, Bollard ME, et al. Metabonomics technologies and their
only a small part of the biological picture. Understanding
applications in physiological monitoring, drug safety assessment and disease
organ rejection, detecting certain kinds of organ injury or
diagnosis. Biomarkers 2004; 9:1–31.
predicting the outcome of an organ transplant will
18 Smith IC, Baert RL. Medical diagnosis by high resolution NMR of human
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always require the input from many disciplines and many
19 Wishart DS, Querengesser LMM, Lefebvre BA, et al. Magnetic resonance
diagnostics: a new technology for high-throughput clinical diagnostics. ClinChem 2001; 47:1918–1921.
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The author wishes to thank Genome Alberta (a division of Genome
trimethylamine-N-oxide. Biochim Biophys Acta 1991; 1096:101 –107.
Canada), the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) and the
21 Serkova N, Fuller TF, Klawitter J, et al. H-NMR-based metabolic signatures of
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for financial support.
mild and severe ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat kidney transplants. KidneyInt 2005; 67:1142–1151.
This well designed and informative study identifies, quantifies and explains the
origins of many endogenous metabolites arising from ischemia–repurfusion injury.
Papers of particular interest, published within the annual period of review, have
It is an excellent example of a modern metabolomic study applied to kidney
22 Fuller TF, Serkova N, Niemann CU, Freise CE. Influence of donor pretreatment
with N-acetylcysteine on ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat kidney grafts. J Urol
Additional references related to this topic can also be found in the Current
World Literature section in this issue (pp. 665–666).
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This solid paper describes the identification and tracking of serum hypoxanthine
This well controlled and statistically robust study reported the generally high
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This highlights the problems of immunosuppression-induced diabetes and the fact
This describes a well integrated (NMR and mass spectrometry) metabolomic study
that neither CsA, tacrolimus or sirolimus appear to offer any improvement.
aimed at identifying the metabolic consequences of localized kidney damagebrought on by genatamicin, a nephrotoxin.
35 Kanbay M, Akcay A, Huddam B, et al. Influence of cyclosporine and tacrolimus
on serum uric acid levels in stable kidney transplant recipients. Transplant
50 Lenz EM, Bright J, Knight R, et al. A metabonomic investigation of the
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The authors measured the incidence of elevated levels of uric acid found in renal
HPLC-TOF/MS: time dependent changes in the urinary profile of endo-
transplant recipients and noted that both CsA and tacrolimus lead to comparable
genous metabolites as a result of nephrotoxicity. Analyst 2004; 129:535 –
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This nice review explains the importance of uric acid in contributing to transplant
This report outlines the strategic research goals and research tools that will
facilitate renal studies for the next decade.
Copyright Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
Society of Nuclear Medicine Procedure Guideline for C-14 Urea Breath Test version 3.0, approved June 23, 2001 Authors: Helena R. Balon, MD (William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI); Eileen Roff, RN, MSA, (William BeaumontHospital, Royal Oak, MI); John E. Freitas, MD (St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI); Vanessa Gates, MS (WilliamBeaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI); and Howard J. Dworkin,
¡No permitas la dictadura del G8! Los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno de los 8 países más ricos y poderosos del mundo se reunirán del 6 al 8 de junio en Heiligendamm, en la costa del mar Báltico, al noreste de Alemania. Una vez más, los dirigentes del G8 negociarán sobre la guerra y la paz, el desarrollo, la economía mundial, la energía y la protección ambiental. Una vez más, una red