HAVCR1 and diabetic kidney disease: Thus, serum KIM-1 may be recommended as a biomarker for detecting early diabetic nephropathy.14,16,17-20 KIM-1 levels in this study showed strong positive association with blood urea nitrogen as a marker for kidney function both at baseline (r= 0.728; p value = 0.000) and follow up (r=0.843; p value = 0.001).