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Recent studies suggest that soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) levels could be useful for distinguishing idiopathic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) from other glomerulopathies that cause nephrotic syndrome, but these data have not been confirmed in independent studies. The objective of our study is to analyse whether circulating levels of su-PAR are useful for identifying primary kidney disease in patients with nephrotic syndrome secondary to FSGS, minimal change disease or idiopathic membranous nephropathy (MN). We measured circulating suPAR at diagnosis in 60 patients with nephrotic syndrome secondary to FSGS, minimal change disease (MCD) and membranous nephropathy (MN). The correlations between suPAR levels and demographic, clinical and biochemical variables were analysed. The sensitivity and specificity of suPAR in distinguishing FSGS patients were analysed by ROC curves. After adjusting for age and renal function, suPAR levels were significantly higher in patients with FSGS than in those with MCD (p<. 001), but there were no differences between FSGS and MN (P=. 12). A suPAR value> 3452pg/ml had a sensitivity of 73.7% and a specificity of 72.5%, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.782±0.124, p=. 001, for identifying patients with FSGS. After excluding patients with MN, a value> 3531pg/ml had a specificity of 99.93%