Urinary kidney stone inhibitors. What is the news?

Supersaturation with respect to calcium salts (oxalate and phosphate) is the driving force leading to crystalluria and nephrolithiasis. High-molecular-weight urinary inhibitors are recently described molecules capable of altering the process of kidney stone formation. By inhibition of crystal nucleation, growth and aggregation and by inhibition of crystal interaction with tubular cells, these proteins efficiently prevent stone formation and retention in the urinary tract. But in spite of considerable efforts, characterization of these proteins is still under way. Besides the pathophysiology of risk factors for calcium salts supersaturation such as idiopathic hypercalciuria or hyperoxaluria, the renal involvement of protein inhibitors is the most exciting field in the comprehensive approach of nephrolithiasis, a disease that affects up to 10% of people in Western countries.