HAVCR1 and acute kidney injury: In addition, measuring both NGAL and KIM-1 was important because NGAL, normally present in the kidney but rapidly upregulated in response to renal injury, represents damage specifically to the distal tubule [78], while KIM-1, a type I cell membrane glycoprotein that is typically undetectable in the healthy kidney but is synthesized rapidly following acute kidney injury, represents damage to the proximal tubule [79].