E.S. Gershtein – Dr.Sc. (Biol.), Professor, N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research 

Center of Oncology (Moscow) 

N.E. Kushlinskii – Dr.Sc. (Med.), Professor, Corresponding member of RAS, 

Professor, N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology (Moscow) E-mail: biochimia@yandex.ru

Long practically asymptomatic development of renal-cell cancer (RCC) leads to its late diagnostics, while despite considerable achievements in drug therapy radical surgery still remains the main guarantee of successive treatment and prolonged relapse-free period. No effective molecular markers for early non-invasive diagnostics of RCC are now available. The review presents literature and authors’ own data indicating that soluble form of KIM-1 (kidney injury molecule) – a specific marker of renal tubular epithelium injury in various diseases associated with renal insufficiency or after exposure to a variety of nephrotoxic agents – is also a potential highly sensitive marker for early detection of RCC because its urine and peripheral blood level is significantly increased already at stage I and also sometime before the onset of the disease. In the first part of the review peculiarities of KIM-1 structure, molecular mechanisms of its effects and changes in expression during non-oncologic renal injuries are described in detail.

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