LCN2 and acute kidney injury: Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a member of the lipocalin family that has gained prominence after the discovery that NGAL is markedly upregulated when kidney tubular cells are damaged.[1] Increases in the concentration of plasma NGAL (pNGAL) appear to be an important early biomarker of acute kidney injury (AKI) across various ischemic, septic, or nephrotoxic insults to the kidney.