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