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Biomarkers

Albuminuria — a marker of systemic microvascular function

A new study reports an independent association between albuminuria and skin capillary rarefaction in a population-based cohort. These findings suggest that as well as reflecting injury to the glomeruli — a highly specialized microvascular bed — albuminuria might be a surrogate marker of systemic microvascular and endothelial dysfunction.

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Acknowledgements

The author's work is supported by financial research grants of the German Research Foundation (DFG; SFB/TRR 57), by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF 01GM1518A) and by the Else-Kröner Fressenius Stiftung (EKFS 2012_A216).

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Correspondence to Peter Boor.

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Boor, P. Albuminuria — a marker of systemic microvascular function. Nat Rev Nephrol 12, 449–450 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2016.82

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