Table 1 Desirable criteria for any potentially clinically useful candidate acute kidney injury biomarker(s)

To provide information above that of traditional clinical evaluation and investigation

To be non-invasive, utilising easily accessible samples

To provide results rapidly and both sensitive and specific to AKI

To have specific cutoff values to distinguish between normal and abnormal renal function

To distinguish intrinsic AKI from pre-renal azotaemia

To provide insight into aetiology of AKI

To differentiate between AKI and chronic kidney disease

To be specific for renal injury in the presence of concomitant dysfunction of other organs

To be indicative of the severity of AKI

To ideally allow some estimate as to the timing of the onset of renal injury

To guide initiation of therapies and to monitor the response to interventions

To aid prognostication in terms of potential renal recovery, need for RRT and mortality