Patent ID: 8652771

Claim:
A non-invasive method for early diagnosis of potential kidney damage due to renin-angiotensin system activation in a diabetic subject, comprising: obtaining, non-invasively, a test urine sample from said diabetic subject; pre-treating said test urine sample with perchloric acid followed by KOH to neutralize the sample; determining a succinate level in said test urine sample by an enzymatic assay that oxidizes a stoichiometric amount of NADH corresponding to the level of succinate in the urine sample; comparing the succinate level in said test urine sample with a succinate level in a control sample, wherein said control sample is either from healthy subjects or diabetic subjects without kidney damage; and determining a diagnosis, wherein a diagnosis of kidney damage due to renin-angiotensin system activation is determined if: (1) the control sample is from healthy subjects and the succinate level in said test urine sample is at least four-fold higher than the succinate level in the control sample, or (2) the control sample is from diabetic subjects without kidney damage and the succinate level in said test urine sample is at least two-fold higher than the succinate level in the control sample.