Beyond creatinine: Cystatin C at ASN Kidney Week 2026

Meet the Cystatin C Company at ASN Kidney Week 2026

Kidney function assessment is evolving, and cystatin C is playing an increasingly important role.

At ASN Kidney Week 2026, meet the Gentian team and discover how cystatin C can provide complementary insight into kidney function, particularly when creatinine-based estimates may be uncertain or when greater confidence in estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) is needed.

Gentian has focused on cystatin C since 2006, helping laboratories make cystatin C testing available within routine clinical chemistry workflows.

Meet us at ASN Kidney Week 2026 booth #300 to discuss how cystatin C can support kidney function assessment and how laboratories can expand access to routine testing.

Beyond creatinine: Why cystatin C?

The Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) is a key measure for diagnosing and monitoring chronic kidney disease (CKD). Serum creatinine is widely used to estimate GFR, but creatinine can be influenced by non-GFR factors, including muscle mass, age, diet and gender.¹⁻⁸

Cystatin C provides a complementary marker for kidney function assessment. It is less affected than creatinine by muscle mass and several other non-GFR factors and can therefore provide valuable additional information when creatinine-based estimates may be less reliable.¹⁻⁸

Used alone or together with creatinine in an eGFR equation, cystatin C can support kidney function assessment when greater accuracy is required for clinical decisions.

Greater confidence in kidney function assessment

Kidney health advocates and organizations embrace the benefits of cystatin C

The role of cystatin C in kidney function assessment has received increasing attention from kidney health organisations and clinical guidelines.

KDIGO Guidelines 

The international organization KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes), has recently published the 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). This updated guideline places greater emphasis on the biomarker cystatin C for estimating GFR.

Highlighting the significance of employing the most precise GFR assessment available, the guideline underscores the utility of utilizing a combination of cystatin C and creatinine. This synergistic approach offers advantages in the management of kidney disease. Cystatin C stands out due to its independence by factors such as race and diet, and it is less susceptible to variations due to age, muscle mass, and sex.³

National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the American Society of Nephrology Task Force

The heightened interest in eGFR equations has its origin from the movement among US medical students that questioned the use of a race coefficient in the calculation of eGFR, and the impact its use can have in healthcare disparities faced by African Americans.

As an answer to the movement a joint task force with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the American Society of Nephrology was established to reassess the inclusion of race in diagnosing kidney disease. Based on input collected over 10 months from hundreds of patients, patient advocates, medical students, clinicians and scientists, ­­the task force recommends "increased use of cystatin C combined with serum creatinine, as a confirmatory assessment of GFR or kidney function."²

The European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC) and the  Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-Epi) initiative

The European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC) has also followed up on the initiative from the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-Epi), addressing the race factor in eGFR equations, in a recent study with data from over 227 000 patients. Their newly developed cystatin C based eGFR equation does not rely on factors for race and gender and can estimate the GFR without compromising on accuracy versus creatinine equations.

Gentian Cystatin C Immunoassay - Easy implementation in routine

Gentian's cystatin C immunoassay is applied to turbidimetry-based clinical chemistry platforms. It is an open channel assay, meaning it can be added to all clinical chemistry analyzers.

• FDA 510(k) cleared since 2007
• Shipped from within US
• CE-marked in compliance with IVDR 2017/746 (CE 0123)
• Developed and manufactured by Gentian AS - in Norway and according to ISO 13485:2016
• Avian antibodies - for less interference⁹
  
  

Get in touch for more information on cystatin C

Explore cystatin C in your lab or clinical practice - fill out the form below or send an email to marketing@gentian.com for more information about the product and prices.

References:

1. Flodin M et al. Evaluation of Gentian cystatin C reagent on Abbott Ci8200 and calculation of glomerular filtration rate expressed in mL/min/1.73 m(2) from the cystatin C values in mg/L. Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2007;67(5):560-567
2. Delgado C et al. A Unifying Approach for GFR Estimation: Recommendations of the NKF-ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Disease. Am J Kidney Dis. 2022;79(2):268-288
3. KDIGO - CKD Evaluation and Management - 2024 Guidelines. 2024
4. Tangri N et al. Changes in dietary protein intake has no effect on serum cystatin C levels independent of the glomerular filtration rate. Kidney Int. 2011;79(4):471-477
5. Grubb A. Cystatin C is Indispensable for Evaluation of Kidney Disease. EJIFCC. 2017;28(4):268-276
6. Björk J et al. Validation of standardized creatinine and cystatin C GFR estimating equations in a large multicentre European cohort of children. Pediatr Nephrol. 2019;34(6):1087-1098
7. Inker LA et al. Estimating glomerular filtration rate from serum creatinine and cystatin C. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(1):20-29
8. Schaeffner E et al. Two novel equations to estimate kidney function in persons aged 70 years or older. Ann Intern Med. 2012;157(7):471-481
9.  Larsson A, Sjöquist J. Chicken antibodies: a tool to avoid false positive results by rheumatoid factor in latex fixation tests. J Immunol Methods. 1988;108(1-2):205-208

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