Studies of the Possibility of Using Renal Biomarkers to Assess Drug Nephrotoxicity in an RPTEC/TERT1 Cell Line Model

We report here studies of the possibility of using contemporary biomarkers of in vivo kidney damage - cystatin C and clusterin – in the RPTEC/TERT1 cell line model. The drugs used as nephrotoxic agents were cisplatin (cis-[Pt(NH 3 ) 2 Cl 2 ]) and vancomycin. Biomarker protein concentrations were measured by enzyme immunoassay. A sharp increase in the clusterin concentration was demonstrated during the first 4 h of incubation with vancomycin, after which the clusterin concentration returned to normal. The cystatin C concentration increased gradually throughout the entire incubation period on exposure to both cisplatin and vancomycin. These results demonstrate that clusterin and cystatin C could be used as in vitro biomarkers to assess drug-induced nephrotoxicity in RPTEC/TERT1/TERT1 cells.