Proteomics and Opportunities for Clinical Translation in Urological Disease

Abstract

Purpose Proteomics is a rapidly growing new discipline that has the potential to increase and improve the understanding of protein function and interaction in the context of systems biology. As a translational science it has the potential to identify many new therapeutic targets and diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of disease. Proteomics approaches consist of a combination of powerful technologies: protein/peptide separation, identification and bioinformatic detection and quantitation based on powerful computational data processing tools. In this article, we present an overview of current proteomics technologies, a review of proteomics applications in urology and a perspective on the future of proteomics in clinical medicine. Materials and Methods A literature search was performed on the basic concepts of proteomics and technologies commonly used in this field. Advantages, challenges and limitations of current proteomics approaches were discussed. Proteomics applications in the field of urology were presented. Results The proteomic approaches to answer clinical questions have only recently been introduced. Many different technologies have been employed in this field, which is moving from simple description into quantitative clinical applications. Conclusions Proteomics offers new approaches to the study of diseases of the genitourinary tract and the potential to identify clinically relevant biomarkers and new therapeutic targets.

An in-depth comparison of the male pediatric and adult urinary proteomes

“…Urine is a valuable body fluid for clinical proteomics [1, 2]. It has the following advantages: i) readily available in large amounts; ii) can be obtained noninvasively; iii) can be repeatedly prospectively sampled from the same individual for longitudinal studies; iv) it is relatively stable[3] and v) it is less complex in comparison to other systemic body fluids, such as blood-derived body fluids[3].…”

“…The urinary proteome is comprised of proteins from ultrafiltration of plasma by the kidneys, in addition to the local secretion and/or shedding of proteins from the genitourinary tract[4], suggesting it may reflect local and/or distal proteomic changes. Furthermore, the content of the urinary proteome can be significantly affected by normal physiologic and environmental variations [1, 2]. Therefore, a detailed examination of the non-diseased, i.e.…”

Patients with ovarian carcinoma excrete different altered levels of urine CD59, kininogen-1 and fragments of inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H4 and albumin

“…The proteomic analysis of urine offers ample opportunities for clinical translation [ 8 , 9 ]. To date, proteomic experiments that have been conducted on urine were not confined to patients suffering from diseases of the genitourinary system [ 10 ] but were also carried out on those with atherosclerosis [ 11 ], sleep disorder [ 12 ] and cancers of the bladder [ 13 ], pancreas [ 14 , 15 ], lung [ 16 ] and colon [ 17 ].…”

One-Step Sample Concentration, Purification, and Albumin Depletion Method for Urinary Proteomics

“…Although urine is abundant and easy to collect, it is a challenging sample for proteomics studies19, 20. The interfering salts and other contaminants can reduce the efficiency of digestion and effectiveness of multi-dimensional separation strategies that are critical for deep profiling using shotgun proteomics21.…”