CMAJ • August 14, 2007; 177 (4). doi:10.1503/cmaj.061590.
© 2007 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
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Review

Urine proteomics: the present and future of measuring urinary protein components in disease

Jonathan Barratt, MB ChB (Hons) PhD and Peter Topham, MB ChB MD

From the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, John Walls Renal Unit, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, UK

Correspondence to: Dr. Jonathan Barratt, Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, John Walls Renal Unit, Leicester General Hospital, Gwendolen Road, Leicester UK LE5 4PW; fax 0116 258 4764; jb81{at}le.ac.uk

Abstract

For centuries, physicians have attempted to use the urine for noninvasive assessment of disease. Today, urinalysis, in particular the measurement of proteinuria, underpins the routine assessment of patients with renal disease. More sophisticated methods for assessing specific urinary protein losses have emerged; however, albumin is still the principal urinary protein measured. Changes in the pattern of urinary protein excretion are not necessarily restricted to nephrourological disease; for instance, the appearance of ß-human chorionic gonadotropin in the urine of pregnant women is the basis for all commercially available pregnancy kits. Similarly, microalbuminuria is a clinically important marker not only of early diabetic nephropathy but also of concomitant cardiovascular disease. With the emergence of newer technologies, in particular mass spectrometry, it has become possible to study urinary protein excretion in even more detail. A variety of techniques have been used both to characterize the normal complement of urinary proteins and also to identify proteins and peptides that may facilitate earlier detection of disease, improve assessment of prognosis and allow closer monitoring of response to therapy. Such proteomics-based approaches hold great promise as the basis for new diagnostic tests and as the means to better understand disease pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize the currently available methods for urinary protein analysis and describe the newer approaches being taken to identify urinary biomarkers.


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Can. Med. Assoc. J. 2007 177: 325. [Full Text] [PDF]

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Can. Med. Assoc. J. 2007 177: 325. [Full Text] [PDF]



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