Table 2 Key facts of renal fibrosis assessment

Biopsies are often performed to assess interstitial fibrosis, which is often accompanied by tubular atrophy (IFTA)

A variety of stains can be used to highlight interstitial fibrosis, including trichrome, Sirius red, and collagen III immunohistochemistry

Assessment of histologic stains can be combined with image analysis to provide an objective method for IFTA assessment

Numerous IFTA assessment methods have shown relationships with renal function measures (e.g., glomerular filtration rate). In this sense, IFTA assessment can act as a biomarker of renal disease

Molecular methods such as transcriptional profiling and proteomic approaches have also been used to assess renal fibrosis

Knowing the degree of fibrosis and its relationship to genomic, proteomic, and other -omic data helps an investigator go from an understanding of the disease state (“-osis”) to understanding on a variety of -omic levels