Urinary proteome biomarkers for early detection of respiratory diseases

Abstract

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and devastating lung disease with a very poor prognosis. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory airway disease and the third leading cause of death worldwide. Disease biomarkers are highly desired for IPF and COPD, especially in early disease phase. Urine is an ideal biomarker source and has the potential to reflect small and early pathological changes. This chapter introduces the application of urine proteomics in biomarker discovery of these two diseases. A bleomycin-induced model and a smoking-induced model were used to mimic the pathophysiological process. Using proteome quantitation, the results showed that urine proteins changed significantly before obvious histopathological changes in lungs. Moreover, early detection and prompt treatment could effectively inhibit pulmonary fibrosis, whereas the same treatment at a late disease phase had very limited therapeutic effects. Our findings will improve the understanding of the pathogenesis of IPF and COPD and accelerate urine biomarker discovery in respiratory diseases.