Methods of diagnosing and predicting renal disease

A method of determining whether a human subject has an increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), or end stage renal disease (ESRD), or both, the method comprising:

• obtaining a sample from a human subject who has proteinuria;
• detecting the presence of and measuring the level of soluble TNF receptor type 1 (sTNFR1) in the subject sample with an anti-sTNFR1 antibody and detecting binding and measuring the level of binding between sTNFR1 and the antibody;
• comparing the subject levels of sTNFR1 with reference levels of sTNFR1;
• and determining whether the subject has an increased risk of developing CKD or ESRD, or both, based on the comparison of the subject levels with the reference levels, wherein the presence of sTNFR1 in the subject sample at levels that are significantly higher than the reference levels indicates that the subject has an increased risk of developing CKD, ESRD or both, administering a therapy to subjects identified as having an increased risk of developing CKD or ESRD and monitoring said identified subjects for a reduction in the level of sTNFR1.