Examination of the urine provides us with the important information about the pathological changes affecting the kidney. Routine examination usually aimed only at total proteinuria or albuminuria does not exploit the huge amount of information about the physiological and pathophysiological processes in the kidney which can be potentially derived from the proteomic analysis of the sample of the urine. Study of the urinary proteome may lead to the identification of new markers of both acute and chronic kidney diseases. Proteomic analysis of the dialysate effluent obtained during hemodialysis may help to find new uremic toxins and markers of the effectivity of the blood purification methods. Study of the proteome of renal tissue (e. g. cortex vs. medulla), or cell populations, or cellular compartments (e. g. organelles) could contribute to the better understanding of the pathogenesis of the renal diseases and the effects of their pharmacological treatment. Another option is the use of the targeted proteomics (e. g. the study of proteins with defined posttranslational modifications).

        Key words: proteomics, kidney, glomerulopathy, tumours of the kidney, renal failure.