Acute and chronic kidney disease, leading to end stage kidney disease and renal failure, can occur in 10-30% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, a serious autoimmune disease. 

Working with physicians and colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, we obtained more than 400 single- and serial-collection urine samples from 89 biopsy-confirmed lupus nephritis (LN) patients and analyzed them with UMF technology.

UMF was able to identify LN urine with 98.3% accuracy, 97.7% sensitivity, 98.5% specificity, 96.6% positive-predictive value (PPV), and 99.0% negative-predictive value (NPV). 

Further analysis of Raman spectra confirmed that the LN urine spectral fingerprint is unique and not an intermediary between healthy and ESRD. The UMF fingerprint and spectra was uniquely characterized by the presence of lipid metabolites as a defining characteristic of LN urine. RMU may be a useful, rapid, and inexpensive tool to detect LN and potentially to monitor the ongoing course of disease and responses to management and treatment. (Robertson, J, Sayed Issa, A, Gomez, et al)